Jamhooriyat, Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat eroded by JK's ruling dynasties: Jitendra

Hitting out at the NC, PDP and Congress, Union minister and BJP leader Jitendra Singh Tuesday said the concept of "Jamhooriyat, Kashmiriyat and Insaniyat" were eroded by Kashmir's ruling dynasties which "perpetuated family rule" under the garb of democracy.

Singh questioned the right of political parties whose leaders became MPs and MLAs with less than 10 per cent polling, to remind the BJP about the concept of and commitment to "Jamhooriyat (democracy), Insaniyat (humanity) and Kashmiriyat (identity of the people of Kashmir)" -- the phrase coined by former prime minister and BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

"Jamhooriyat, Kashmiriyat and Insaniyat were eroded by Kashmir's ruling dynasties which perpetuated family rule under the garb of democracy," Singh told reporters here.

He reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion that his government is committed to follow the Vajpayee's formula in Kashmir.

Singh accused Kashmir's mainstream parties of "working against" the spirit of democracy.

"Political parties whose leaders have learnt to become MPs and MLAs with less than 10 percent polling have no right to remind the BJP about Vajpayee's concept and its commitment to Jamhooriyat," he said.

Singh said if Kashmir-centric mainstream parties were sincere about democracy they would have facilitated a free and fair elections with mass participation.

"They deliberately avoided that, so that they could be the beneficiaries of minuscule voting percentage and thus carry on with their family rule from one generation to the other," he said.

As for Kashmiriyat, he said the political parties of the state responsible for the mass exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley cannot refer to "Kashmiriyat" which is essentially characterised by the composite culture for which Kashmir was known across the world.

On Insaniyat, he accused these parties of inflicting greatest assault on "humanity" by "instigate" children of poor Kashmiris to get killed as stone-pelters or during crossfire.

These double-standards, he said, have wounded three generations of Kashmiri children, he said.