Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said the people of Jammu and Kashmir should be commended for “issuing a tight slap to terrorism and separatism” and for “asserting their faith in democracy and development” after the successful conclusion of the District Development Council (DDC) polls. “This is a victory for India, for India’s democracy, of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and of hope and development,” he stated.
Addressing a presser at the BJP’s national headquarters in New Delhi, Mr. Prasad said that both the number of people who came out to vote and the emergence of a “new political leadership at the grass roots” was a matter of happiness for the country. He read out polling percentages of areas which were considered hotbeds of terror. The large turnout in these polls in comparison to the Lok Sabha elections and the 2018 panchayat polls was a sign that people in these areas had realised that “democracy leads to development”, he noted.
Large participation in polls
“After the 2018 panchayat elections, held under President’s rule, money, for the first time in the Union Territory, was sent directly to the bank accounts of the panchayats and the works to done with those funds clearly written on boards at the panchayat offices. People have realised that democracy can lead to development and we saw, despite a propaganda against the removal of Article 370 and 35A as well as calls for boycott by terror groups, that people participated in large numbers,” he said.
“This is a recognition by the people of what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been saying all along- that the culture of ‘rulers’ is gone and only those who wish to serve the people will prevail,” he added.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party among non- alliance parties, while the pre-poll People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) has the largest number of seats. The DDC polls were conducted in eight phases and results were declared on Tuesday.