Amit Shah in Jammu; asks BJP workers to remain steadfast in its ‘inspirational’ agenda

Srinagar: Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, on Sunday reportedly asked the BJP workers to remain steadfast in the party’s ‘aspirational agenda’ in the face of challenges and urged them to engage youth in the nation building and become active participants of the roadmap of the Prime Minister’s vision for 'Viksit Bharat 2047’.

“The Bharat (India) envisioned by our Prime Minister will not only be a completely developed nation by 2047 but also terror and drug free,” a party source quoted him as saying while speaking at a function held at the BJP’s Jammu headquarters as part of the party’s foundation day celebrations.

Though the meeting- still underway as reports last came- is not open to media persons the party source said that, during his interaction with the 28 BJP MLAs, the Home Minister asked them questions about their performance during the first budget session of the J&K Assembly which is scheduled to resume on April 7 after a long-break of twelve days owing to Id-ul-Fitr and Navratri festivities.

While entering the meeting hall, the Home Minister exchanged a couple of waves and smiles with media persons but did not speak to them. The BJP said that media will be briefed on the deliberations at the end of the meeting.

Mr. Shah after reaching Jammu on Sunday evening on his three-day visit to J&K straightaway headed to Raj Bhawan and after spending a couple of hours there reached the J&K BJP party headquarters at Trikuta Nagar to interact with party legislators and senior leaders. He was received by J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Union minister of state Dr, Jitendra Singh, J&K BJP unit chief Sat Sharma and other senior party leaders and government functionaries at Jammu’s Technical airport.

After the night stay at Raj Bhawan Jammu, the Home Minister will visit a Border Security Force (BSF) border outpost (BoP) Vinay along International Border (IB) with Pakistan in Kathua district early Monday morning and interact with the jawans and officers of the paramilitary forces to have an on-the-spot assessment of the situation along the IB. The visit to the BSF BoP comes in the backdrop of a series of terror incidents in Kathua involving fresh groups of infiltrators as per police sources.

Following these incidents, the security forces are spearheading a major and tough anti-terror campaign in Kathua and its neighbourhood. But Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had earlier this week clarified that the Home Minister’s visit is not linked to the ongoing anti-militancy operations in Kathua and that his programme was finalised before the Kathua encounter. “It is a coincidence that his visit comes around the time of the Kathua operations,” the chief minister had told reporters after launching a free bus service for women here.

The Home Minister will meet the family members of the martyrs of the J&K police at Raj Bhavan Jammu at 2 pm on April 7 and present appointment letters to some of them provided with government jobs on compassionate grounds. He will also hold separate review meetings with senior officials of various security agencies and the local administration in the twin capitals of Jammu and Srinagar.

Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, MHA officials dealing with J&K, heads of Intelligence agencies and paramilitary forces from New Delhi will also attend these security review meetings, the official sources said. The arrangements being put in place for this year’s Amarnath yatra will also come in for a threadbare discussion at the security review meetings, the sources said.

On April 8, the Home Minister will preside over a meeting of government officials to discuss the progress made on various Centrally sponsored developmental projects and other important issues.

Former J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina said that the Home Minister congratulated the party for winning 29 seats and bagging over 26 percent of the polled votes in the J&K assembly elections held in September -October last year, emerging as the largest group of the House. “He said it was a great thing and patted our back for it,” Mr. Raina told reporters after the meeting.

In the two-hour long meeting, the participants raised various important issues concerning the people and the party and Mr. Shah “gave every one of us a patient hearing,” said BJP MLA Balwant Mankotia.