JAMMU JANUARY 14 (KNS):  Describing the visit of the Union Home Minister to Jammu as total failure, former minister and senior National Conference leader Mr Ajay Kumar Sadhotra today said the protesting youth including the reserved categories employees working in the Valley, Prime Minister Package employees, Rehbar-e-Khel workers, daily rated and contractual segment of employees, find themselves pushed to the wall with Mr Amit Shah not speaking a word about them and ignoring their demands contemptuously. It is unfortunate that Jammu the Holy City of Temples has turned into City of Dharnas and Protests by the BJP Double Engine Sarkar. “Creating hype is different than fulfilling the aspirations of the people”, Mr Sadhotra said, adding that the Centre being the custodian of the interests of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, in the absence of a democratically elected government, cannot shirk its legitimate responsibilities.

In a statement to Kashmir News Service (KNS), Sadhotra expressed solidarity with protesting employees and workers, saying , “Our hearts go out to the agitating stakeholders, who are sitting on dharna in the chilling cold and even braving the brunt of the police atrocities." He said denial of rights, especially withholding the salaries, is a gross human rights violation and its enormity becomes severe as they have been agitating for several months now. “It is shameful to see our young people, including daughters and sisters, sitting on roads for something that could have been avoided by acceding to their genuine demands”, he said and expressed concern over the lackadaisical attitude of the administration.

Mr Sadhotra said the visit of the Union Home Minister had raised many expectations and generated hope among the protesting segments of the society but true to the character of the BJP they find themselves in lurch, asthe ruling dispensation believes in not keeping the promises made. He blamed the BJP for taking sadistic pleasures in the miseries of the people by making them to run helter-skelter in pursuit of redressal to their problems. He said the government cannot abdicate its responsibilities and allow drift by not engaging with striking employees and the workers, whose families are hugely suffering in these days of inflation that has touched alarming proportions due to the wrong policies of the government.

He cautioned the government against testing the patience of the striking workers and sought an immediate end to the ongoing strike by engaging them in talks and taking appropriate action on their demands. Mr Sadhotra also assailed the Centre and the J&K administration for failing in instilling a sense of security among the people in general and those living in the border areas in particular. He referred to the recent dastardly act in Dhangri in Rajouri and said the two lives of the young children could have been saved had the concerned agencies sanitized the site of carnage after brutal killings. “Nothing is being heard about the action taken against those responsible for the security lapse despite tall claims made by responsible people at the helm of affairs”, Mr Sadhotra said, adding thatthis has further aggravated the despondency among the citizens about their safety and security.(KNS)