Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party (DSSP) president Lal Singh on Saturday criticized an anti-encroachment drive being carried out in Jammu and Kashmir to retrieve State land. Singh said that the lieutenant governor-led administration has no mandate to take a decision as such that is rendering people "homeless and jobless". He also asked the Union Territory administration to make the names public of the alleged land grabbers.
"This is not an anti-encroachment drive, but a criminal act under which they are harassing the public and taking away their land, demolishing homes and businesses. The LG-led administration is the encroacher here and not the public," the former Jammu and Kashmir minister told reporters in Jammu.
He also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of deliberately delaying the Assembly polls in the newly formed Union Territory because the BJP is afraid of facing the voters, who are angry with the central government policies. The DSSP president, who recently launched the "Jan Sampark Abhiyan" from Kathua to mobilize people against the government's "wrong policies" said, "they (BJP) have defamed the people of Jammu and Kashmir by accusing us of being encroachers on state land".
"They are indulging in such types of actions to deviate the attention of the public who are angry with the policies of the central government. The LG's rule should have ended within a year, but they are afraid of facing the voters who are angry with them," Singh said.
"They (BJP) disintegrated and downgraded Jammu and Kashmir and took away the rights that were given to us by the Constitution. People have not given them a mandate but they are using the LG-led administration to continue their rule. They stand exposed before the public," he added.
(With PTI inputs)
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