Jammu, June 10: Cautioning against machinations of straining the time tested inclusive and pluralistic ethos of Jammu, senior BJP leader Devender Singh Rana on Friday called for identifying, exposing and isolating the elements inimical to peace and tranquillity.
“Jammu’s tryst with harmony is strong enough to withstand the vicious onslaught of hate mongers,” Rana said, while interacting with the people at Palpad during his visit to the area.
He said pluralistic Jammu’s ethos of inclusiveness and harmony was the strong citadel against forces who wanted to disturb the secular fabric of the region.
Rana said the people, irrespective of region and religion, were sagacious enough to see through the attempts of dividing the society and resolute enough to thwart the designs of peace-breakers by maintaining unity and brotherhood.
“Mutual trust and better understanding of each other’s religious beliefs is a hallmark of the Jammu ethos that has surmounted the challenges of times with courage and fortitude. This spirit is actually the guiding force behind the way of life of the peace-loving people,” he added.
The BJP leader said the vicious cycle of hate was a threat to civility and detrimental to the spirit of co-existence. Such tendencies had the potential of creating a wedge between different segments of society that was alien to the composite ethos of this region, he said and urged the people to sustain this legacy to bequeath harmonious Jammu to the posterity. He said the region had all along cherished the great values of the pluralistic ethos that had actually been a binding force between various religions.
“This spirit has not only to be sustained but promoted in a big way to keep at bay the divisive and reactionary forces,” he added.
Rana said that those trying to divide people would not succeed in their game plan as coexistence was Jammu’s DNA and any attempt of trampling it would face stiff resistance by the society at large. “The people cannot be dissuaded from their chosen path by any incitement or provocation,” he said. Rana decried the manoeuvres to generate a sense of fear and apprehension in pursuit of furthering sinister agenda and said, ‘BJP’s solemn pledge about ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Priyas holds promise for a peaceful, prosperous , progressive and inclusive Jammu and Kashmir.”
“Some forces are hell-bent to weaken people’s resolve of maintaining unity by exploiting regional, communal and sectarian sentiments in pursuit of their sinister political agenda,” Rana said, adding that the people would foil and frustrate their machinations with their full might.
He emphasized the role of peace loving forces in sidelining elements inimical to mutual co-existence, saying this could be achieved only when those in public life would become role models by dint of their selfless service to people, especially poor and the downtrodden. “Since opinion leaders enjoy larger influence in the society, they should rise to the occasion and supplement the efforts of maintaining harmony between various segments of society,” he said.
Prominent among those present on the occasion included Hameed Choudhary, Babu Ram, Shah Muhammad, Abdul Mehmood, Abdul, Fared Ahmed, Mushtaq , Mohd Saleem, Jamat Ali, Sobat Ali, Khalim Ali besides others.
