BJP national president JP Nadda said here today that the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was unfortunate and uncalled for. Nadda was addressing a welcome rally on his maiden visit to the state. Nadda said the nation had become one under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Terming the abrogation of Article 370 a historic decision, he said it was not merely an emotional issue but had strengthened the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It was for the first time after independence that election to the 310 Block Development Committee seats were held in J&K in which the BJP bagged 81 seats while the Congress could secure only a few and the NCP and PDP ran away from the polls.
Nadda said funds provided by the Modi government were misused by leaders in Jammu and Kashmir.
He said, “A common worker can be elevated to the post of president as hard work is the lone mantra. No one knows who will be the next party president. He attributed it to 17 crore party workers who toiled to elevate the party to this level.”
Nadda, who was overwhelmed with the rousing reception, thanked the BJP leaders for electing him as the national president. He said, “I had never though that a common worker hailing from a hill state like Himachal could be the party president.”
Referring to US President Donald Trump’s visit, he said it was a big achievement that his 28 of the 30-minute speech in the stadium was confined to praising Modi. He said it was also laudable that former Prime Minister of Britain also said time was not far when the UK would have a British-born PM of Indian origin.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur spoke about the developmental initiatives of his government while Union Minister for State for Finance Anurag Thakur said India was the fifth largest economy in the world after France and the UK which was a big achievement. He said Himachal had been recommended the devolution of Rs 19,309 crore by the 15th Finance Commission while merely Rs 4,338.4 crore had been granted by the 13th commission under the UPA-II when Congress was in power. Keeping in view the interest of orchardists, the highest import duty had been levied on apple import and efforts were afoot to benefit individual tax payers.
Former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar extended a word of caution to the party workers and said though this was a golden era for the BJP, there was need to remain vigilant.
Source : The Tribune