Srinagar: Lashing out at the state government, former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader, the grandson of Maharaja Hari Singh, Vikramadatiya Singh Friday alleged that all his demands pitched with Chief Minister were never considered. 

He also alleged discrimination with the Jammu region, saying that the governance and politics in the state is “Kashmir-centric” while Jammu is being “ignored”.

Singh made this statement a day after the PDP President and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti accepted his resignation from the party.

Singh, who was PDP MLC, said that he had pitched several demands about Jammu province with the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Education ministers, “but the demands were never considered.”

“I had joined politics before Mufti (Muhammad Sayeed) Sahab after he convinced me that we have to work together to connect people of all the regions. But the present government is not serious in addressing the Jammu-centric issues and is ignoring the people of the region,” Singh told a local news gathering agency.

He alleged that issues of Jammu province are not being considered by the government. “Dogra rulers have a contribution towards social reforms, development of institutions, upliftment of weavers, and construction of irrigation channels in Kashmir and Jammu regions for agriculture,” he said, adding that “but there is no mention of their contribution in school text books. I was taking up the demands with the Chief Minister and Education Minister but there was no response. So I took the decision of quitting from PDP.”

“It is Kashmir-centric politics and governance since the time of Sheikh (Abdullah) Sahab, and the Jammu region is being ignored,” he alleged.

He said that the regional identity and aspirations of all the three regions must be respected. “Since Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh have three distinct identities and all the three regions should be governed with justice, without discriminating with any region, he said.

He claimed that some independent persons “contacted me to take back my decision but I did not agree.”

Singh said that he had spoken against the Rohingya refugees in Jammu because they “are a potential time bomb”. “Even Home Ministry has said that these refugees are not desirable people in Jammu. I understand theirs is a humanitarian issue but why are they living in Jammu only,” he said.

Singh, the grandson of the last Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh, had joined the PDP in presence of the late party president Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on August 2015. He was also member of the state legislative council. (KNS)

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