Border dwellers accuse BJP of going back on promises

Dinesh Manhotra

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Tribune News Service

Ramgarh (Samba), February 22

Although an eerie calm prevails in border areas, villagers living near the International Border (IB) are venting their anger against the ruling BJP for ‘abandoning’ them at the crucial time.

Villagers saw the worst-ever bloodshed and destruction in January this year. The border belt had ensured the BJP’s historic win in the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state. “The BJP leadership has cheated and betrayed us. After getting our votes, the party abandoned us,” said Choudhary Sukhdev, a resident of Ramgarh, while listing the promises which the BJP had made to the border residents during electioneering. BJP national president Amit Shah, during his visit to border areas of RS Pura in August 2014, had promised to solve the problems of border dwellers once and for all. He had made the promises ahead of the Assembly elections but the promises remain only on paper. “We are used by the BJP for political reasons. During the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, the party had made a number of promises with the border residents but not a single promise has been fulfilled,” said Subash Chander, a resident of Sai Khurd village of the RS Pura sector. The firing and shelling by Pakistan in January this year has added fuel to people’s anger. “For the first time in my life, I witnessed shelling of such intensity but the authorities failed to respond at the crucial time,” said Ravinder Choudhary of Ramgarh. “No adequate financial aid has been provided by the government to the injured. They are getting treatment on their own,” Choudhary said. Residents living in villages along the IB are furious with the government for not providing them land in safer places and reservation benefits like their counterparts on the Line of Control.