The Kashmir Pulse

JAMMU — Former Minister and President of Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Choudhary Lal Singh on Wednesday joined the Congress party at All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi and is all set to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Udhampur-Doda Parliamentary constituency.

He was welcomed in the party by AICC Chief Spokesman Pawan Khera, AICC General Secretary and J&K Incharge Bharatsin Soalnki, PCC President Vikar Rasool Wani, co-incharge J&K Manoj Yadav, NSUI national president Neeraj Kundan and others.

After joining the Congress party, Choudhary Lal Singh asked the party leaders and workers to unite to win these elections. “Whenever I have contested any elections, my party has formed the government. I don’t know how but I think it comes straight away from the heavens,” he said while addressing the media after the joining, as per the news agency KNO.

“In 2002, our party formed the government in Jammu and Kashmir when I had won the Assembly elections. After that, when BJP gave the slogan of Shining India in 2004, I won Lok Sabha elections and the Congress party formed the government at the Centre. Everybody should keep this in mind and in advance, we all should be united,” Singh said, in his own style.

Lal Singh said that fighting elections in Jammu and Kashmir is a tough job and he knows it very well. “I have faced three deadly attacks but escaped unhurt. I know how tough it is to fight elections in J&K and you all should respect us,” he added.

He expressed his displeasure on changing his candidature during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when the party had given the mandate to Ghulam Nabi Azad (who lost to Dr Jitendra Singh of BJP). “You all were witness to that and even cried,” he added.

Preferring Azad over Singh during the 2014 elections became the reason for him to leave the grand-old party and he jumped ship and joined BJP. He successfully contested the 2014 Assembly elections in J&K and became the minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government.

Thanking the Congress party, Lal Singh said that the future belongs to young people and that all the old people will die. “Rahul Gandhi is young and he will surely become the Prime Minister of the country. Whenever I see these young people around (pointing towards Neeraj Kundan and Shanawaz Choudhary), I tell them you are the future,” he added.

Welcoming him into the party fold, PCC President Vikar Rasool Wani said that Choudhary Lal Singh has always worked for the downtrodden and poor people and has emerged as a strong leader. “His joining is a welcome step and we welcome him,” he added.

The two-time Member Parliament (MP) from Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat, Singh’s joining Congress party will give a huge boost to the grand-old party from this seat where Minister of State (MoS) in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh is contesting on BJP’s ticket.

Choudhary Lal Singh’s candidature will make this contest on the Udhampur-Doda seat interesting as Singh has his own base in his home district Kathua and the Congress party enjoys a good reputation in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts of this constituency.

With his entry, there will be a direct contest between Choudhary Lal Singh and Jitendra Singh whereas the Democratic Progress Azad Party’s (DPAP) candidate and former MLA from Inderwal, Ghulam Muhammad Saroori will play a major role as being a native of Kishtwar district, he is expected to get votes from Chenab valley.

Jitendra Singh is also a two-time MP from this seat and is considered a close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He will be facing a strong heat as the contest will be tough.

This seat is all set to go for polls in the first phase on April 19 and the counting of votes will be on June 4.

JAMMU — Congress leader and Member Parliament Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that Bharat Jodo Yatra has largely succeeded to fight against the narrative of hatred spread across the country and bring the folks together yet again.

“Let me tell you that we have been able to bring the people across the country together yet again through Bharat Jodo Yatra. There were a lot of lessons for us in the Yatra and we have learned a lot after meeting people of various shades during our journey,” Rahul said while addressing a press conference in Jammu, as per news agency KNO.

He said that there is no scope for hatred in the country as Congress believes in spreading the message of love. “Our endeavour is to open the shops of love across J&K that has been made a scapegoat of politics,” Rahul said, adding, “Through Bharat Jodo Yatra, we have largely been able to fight the disastrous narrative of hatred spread by the BJP in the country.”

He said that the primary focus of Congress is to get Statehood and Assembly restored in J&K. Asked if Bharat Jodo Yatra was apolitical, why was he continuously targeting BJP, Rahul responded, saying that since Congress is the grand old political party, there will surely be a bit of politics in his speeches during the Yatra.

“When Kashmiri Pandits, farmers and unemployed youth would meet me during the Yatra and hope that I will definitely raise their issues, there would obviously be a problem for me if I don’t talk about them,” the Congress leader said.

He said there was not even a tinge of hatred for anybody including PM Narendra Modi. “I am not afraid of anybody so why should I have hatred for anyone,” he said.

He said J&K youth are suffering from depression and discomfort. “We are here to listen to them and understand their issues,” he said, adding that media too has been suppressed to an extent as if Yatra is not happening at all.

To a query about Lal Singh, Rahul said that Singh supported Yatra and that Congress appreciates that. “As far as Ghulam Nabi Azad is concerned, 90 percent of his supporters and party men were on our stage. I would like to tender my apology if we have hurt Azad or Lal Singh,” Rahul said.

On reports that crores are being spent for his Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul said that to tarnish his image, BJP and RSS spent thousands of crores and yet didn’t succeed. “I want to tell BJP that money can’t burry the truth which has a nasty habit of come out. BJP has started to understand this reality gradually,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention here that Rahul-led Bharat Jodo Yatra will enter Srinagar on January 30.

JAMMU — A major controversy has erupted over the participation of former minister Lal Singh in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra with a lawyer, who was at the forefront of a campaign to seek justice for eight-year-old Kathua child gang-raped and murdered in 2018, resigning from the Congress on Tuesday over allowing Singh to participate in the Yatra, which will enter Jammu & Kashmir this week.

In a series of tweets, as per the news agency KNO, Advocate Deepika Pushkar Nath announced her resignation from the party, saying Lal Singh defended the rapists of the girl and divided the entire Jammu & Kashmir to protect the rapists.

“In view of Ch. Lal Singh's proposal of joining @BharatJodo & @INCJammuKashmir allowing the same, I am left with no other option but to resign from @INCIndia. Lal Singh was responsible for sabotaging the Kathua rape case in 2018 by brazenly defending rapists,” Deepika said in a tweet.

Deepika, who was also spokesperson of the J&K unit of Congress, said Lal Singh divided the entire region of Jammu & Kashmir to protect the rapists and Bharat Jodo Yatra is ideologically opposed to the actions of the former minister. “Lal Singh divided the entire region of Jammu & Kashmir to protect the rapists and @BharatJodo is ideologically opposite. On ideological grounds, I cannot share the party platform with such a person,” she wrote.

Lal Singh along with Chandra Prakash Ganga was forced to resign from the Mehbooba Mufti-led council of ministers on April 13, 2018, over their participation in a rally in support of Kathua rapists. After his ouster from the cabinet, Singh had led a massive campaign to seek a CBI probe in Kathua rape and murder case, saying this was a conspiracy to defame the entire Dogra community.

J&K Police had then registered an FIR against the brother of Lal Singh for using abusive language against then-Chief Minster Mehbooba Mufti during a rally in Kathua.

In January 2018, an eight-year-old nomadic Muslim girl in Rasana village of Kathua was kidnapped and raped in captivity after having been kept sedated for four days before she was bludgeoned to death.

The resignation of Deepika Singh would put Congress in a tight spot and it would be interesting to watch whether the party would allow Singh to join the Yatra.

JAMMU — Former minister and senior politician Choudhary Lal Singh on Saturday termed the news about the granting of voting rights to outsiders unfortunate and said that democracy here is under threat.

Addressing a press conference here at Jammu, Singh questioned under which law non-local residents are being given the right to vote in Jammu and Kashmir. "We strongly condemn this move of the EC and request the people to show solidarity and fight together against it," he said.

Saying that the proposal of the Election Commission is a threat to the recognition of Jammu and Kashmir, Lal Singh accused Bharatiya Janata Party of taking such steps for its own interest.

Asked about the all-party meeting called by Farooq Abdullah at his Gupkar residence on Monday, he said that they have only called the leaders of Kashmir and not them. "So we will fight for the people of Jammu in Jammu itself against EC's move."

"BJP leaders here have no idea how much they are suffering, nor do they know how to explain the situation here to the Prime Minister," he added.