Union Home Minister Amit Shah met delegations from the Gujjar, Bakarwal, Pahadi, and Sikh communities during his two-day visit to Kashmir.
Shah met the delegations on Thursday evening in Srinagar.
A representative of the Pahadi community, Mohammad Akbar Khan, told ANI, “They (the BJP) included us in the ST category and did us a favour. And we will also do them a favour in return. Whatever used to come for the Pahadi people, the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) used to eat it. Sikh, Pahadi, Gujjar, and Kashmiri communities have come to meet (Amit Shah).”
“We only came here to thank him (Amit Shah) for including us in the ST category. Gujjar, Sikh, and Pahadi delegations have come to meet him… We met like a family. Whatever the Home Minister or the BJP promises, that gets done 100 per cent. ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’ actually happens,” a representative from one of the communities who met Amit Shah said.
Notably, BJP is not contesting from any of Jammu and Kashmir’s three Lok Sabha seats; Srinagar, Baramulla, and Anantnag.
The electoral battle remained between two major regional parties, the National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the BJP had six candidates in the fray in Jammu and Kashmir but failed to win a single seat in Kashmir.
Voting for the Udhampur and Jammu seats concluded on April 19 and 26, respectively, while in Srinagar, voting was done on May 13.
The Baramulla seat will vote on May 20, while the Anantnag-Rajouri seat will vote on May 25. (ANI)
