The Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is working on ways to ensure honourable resettlement of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley, the Jammu and Kashmir BJP said on Wednesday. The statement comes amid resentment within the Kashmiri Pandit community over Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi suggesting that they were to blame for their failure to return to the valley.
BJP spokesperson and former MLC Girdhari Lal Raina appealed to the community to be cautious and snub vested interests who are trying to create an impression that the government has abandoned the community.
However, he claimed that a section of bureaucracy continues to create impediments, but “that will neither dilute the resolve of the community nor stop the government from addressing issues confronted by the displaced community.”
“Modi government is committed to ensure return of Kashmiri Pandits to their roots and understands that they may be out of Kashmir because of compulsions but they yearn to go back to the valley. The government is working on ways for the honourable resettlement of the community in the valley as per their wishes,” Raina, who is also a migrant pandit, said.
This is the official stand of the BJP which has been made absolutely clear by the party repeatedly in documents as well as through the actions of the government from time to time, he said.
“Individual opinions expressed here and there do not reflect change in the official position of the party,” he said, trying to address the anger in the community over Lekhi’s statement.
During an online interaction with Kashmiri Pandits recently, Lekhi had kicked up a storm by comparing the issue of pandits to that of migrant labourers who returned to their homes during the Covid lockdown, saying the community has to share the blame for their failure to go back to the valley as many of them were not interested in doing so.
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