BJP OBC Morcha convention put off following Pulwama tragedy

The two-day BJP OBC Morcha national convention, which was to commence here on Friday with top party leaders in attendance, was put off after a condolence meeting over killing of 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwama Thursday.

More than 5,000 delegates from across the country took part in the meet.

After Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was supposed to inaugurate the convention, cancelled his trip a decision was taken in the morning to defer the commencement of the Maha Adhiveshan till the afternoon and confine the discussions on organizational matters, avoiding political talk, the partys Bihar unit spokesman Nikhil Anand told PTI.

Accordingly, about 5,500 delegates, including the partys national general secretary in charge for the state Bhupendra Yadav and OBC Morchas national president Dara Singh Chauhan and secretary Sudha Yadav gathered at the Bapu Sabhagar at 1430 hours, he said.

All delegates observed a two-minute silence over the tragedy following which Yadav made a brief speech, expressing grief over the martyrdom of jawans and expressing solidarity with the prevailing sentiment in the country. He also announced that in view of the situation at hand, the two-day convention was being cancelled, Anand added.

Meanwhile, thousands of activists belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the JD(U)s youth and students wings, the RLSP and Hindustani Awam Morcha took out candle marches in protest against the terrorist strike wherein two CRPF jawans hailing from Bihar Sanjay Kumar Sinha and Ratan Thakur were also killed.

Setting political rivalries aside, the demonstrators prayed for the bereaved family members and urged the government to take effective action against those responsible for the attack.