Invoking Bapu and Ram, Advani, Rajnath raise Jammu pitch

“Like Gandhiji told the people of India ‘Do or Die’ today, you should also get ready to make sacrifices and struggle,” said Advani at a Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha function, coinciding with the Quit India anniversary.

BJP president Rajnath Singh, in keeping with his positioning for the last few months, played a hardliner to the hilt. “The BJP, born in 1980, is in the prime of youth

today. The Ram Lalla of Advaniji’s rath yatra, too, has entered His youth. The party is fully behind the Jammu agitation,” said the BJP president, reiterating the party’s commitment to “introduce POTA when it came to power”.

Hitting out at the Congress for what he called its “flawed secularism”, Advani said: “Secularism means respect for all religions; this doesn’t mean that Hindus be shown disrespect. Congress and some other parties think they can benefit politically by promoting an anti-Hindu mindset. This is evident in the recent developments in Kashmir. A similar anti-Hindu mindset was also evident in the Congress-led UPA Government’s approach towards the Ram Sethu issue…”

“It was essentially due to Shyama Prasad Mookerjee’s sacrifice that the Tricolour found the pride of place in the state (J&K),” Advani said. “Had he not made the supreme sacrifice, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (and others like him) would not have become chief ministers there…The present crisis has revived the old issue of the state’s full integration with the rest of the country. Why should there be two systems (of governance) in one country?” he said.

“How can Kashmir’s identity be threatened by the erection of temporary structures on just 100 acres of land for provision of basic amenities, and that too for only two months in a year? And what is Kashmir’s identity? Isn’t Kashmir an integral part of India?” asked Advani.