The Bhartiya Janta Pary (BJP), which has a healthy political representation in the district with two MLAs, an MLC and a Vice-Chairman of board, are on the receiving end with agitated people accusing the party of making false promises, while Minister of State and BJP MLA from Kalakote Abdul Gani Kohli and BJP MLA from Nowshera Ravinder Raina are also facing the public’s ire.
Although the people from Sunderbani called off their strike after sanction of rotational ADC post, the ongoing agitation in other parts of the district seem to be swelling up with each passing day, with the government’s order of rotating ADC Kotranka post with Kalakote leading to a new front being opened and the people warning against the order’s implementation.
Agitation in Nowshera and Kalakote continues with people from both areas refusing to accept the rotational ADC post.
Political pundits, while sharing their views on the agitation, said that the protest is not only leading to economical loss for traders and the government, but is also affecting the political dimensions of the area. “BJP’s reputation is getting severely damaged as people are blaming the ruling party for failure to follow the matter in a proper spirit,” they said.
Sources said that the people from Sunderbani are already against BJP after the agitation and they even exchanged heated words and arguments with the party ministers and leaders, who visited the area a couple of weeks ago. “The people from Nowshera have also started to blame and resent the BJP and anger against the party and its MLAs has brewed to such an extent that a number of inauguration and foundation plates with names of MLA Ravinder Raina and Deputy CM Dr Nirmal Singh were also damaged.”
The political pundits also said that the BJP MLA and Cabinet Minister Abdul Ghani Kohli is also facing severe criticism of the people of Kalakote, who are blaming him for not raising his voice against the government’s move of attaching Kalakote with ADC Kotrannka. They also stated that in all these three areas, Nowshera, Kalakote and Sunderbani, alongwith village belts including Siot, Lamberi, Bagnoti, Teryath and Bal Shama, majority of the voters had casted their vote in favour of BJP, in both parliamentary as well as state assembly polls.
“Gherao of BJP Ministers in Sunderbani, damage to name plates of BJP leaders and ministers in Sunderbani, statements against BJP MLA and Cabinet Minister in Kalakote clearly shows the public anger against the ruling party,” they said.
When asked about the reason of such anger, sources and pundits said, “The demand of ADC post or district status is not the sole reason, but the anger was brewing among masses as according to them the BJP failed to solve developmental issues.”