NC leader asks PM Modi to spend Diwali with border residents

NC's provincial chief Devender Singh Rana hit out at BJP leaders and alleged that they had abandoned the people in their time of need

Stating that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is "explosive" in the wake of continuous cross-border shelling, National Conference (NC) on Saturday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to celebrate Diwali with the "abandoned" dwellers along the International Border and the Line of Control (LoC) in the state to "set an example".

NC's provincial chief Devender Singh Rana said the situation was "explosive" in the wake of continuous shelling and urged politicians to "rise above political affiliations and seek solution to problems".

"Diwali falls on Amawasya (new moon day) and let the prime minister light a lamp to end the darkness of borders, the silence of which is intermittently interrupted by mortal shells and heavy artillery, sending chill among the residents, who are running helter-skelter with women, old, ailing and children for safety," Rana said during party delegation's visit to the affected border villages here.

Rana hoped that the prime minister will see for himself how the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and political executives of the government have virtually abandoned the residents, who are struggling to survive the onslaught.

"We are sure the prime minister will feel the trauma and agony of the suffering people whose woes have been aggravated by the bunch of BJP exploiters here," he said, adding that the prime minister can set an example by being with the residents in distress and feel their pain.

He assailed the BJP's total indifference towards residents of the forward areas at this crucial hour of border crisis and asked where the political executives of Jammu and Kashmir have vanished.

"At a time they should have been with the suffering people, the BJP ministers and leaders, who were making beeline during elections, were not visible anywhere," Rana said.

"The callousness of administration towards residents is a classic example of the duplicity and deception of the BJP, which has mastered in exploitation," he said.

The provincial president said the border skirmishes were no solution to problems and hoped that positive steps would be taken to de-esclate the tension and hostility that is proving hazardous for the villagers along the International Border and the LoC.

"We sincerely hope that the atmosphere of jingoism will be a temporary phase and the two countries would engage themselves in meaningful dialogue," he said and added that the victims of hostilities have always been the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Rana and other senior party leaders called for adequate arrangements, health care and other facilities at the make shift camps for border residents, who were forced to leave their homes and hearths due to intermittent shelling.