BJP State President Ashok Khajuria today joined issues with the National Conference (NC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and accused both these parties of pursuing valley-centric agenda and marginalising the talented and highly qualified youth of Jammu province and that chunk of population across the state
which does not approve of the ideology of the NC and the PDP.Ashok Khajuria ridiculed the claim of these two parties that the roots of problem facing the state lies in unemployment in the state. He said Jammu and Kashmir is the only state in the country where 6 out of every 100 persons are working in the government and semi-government establishments as against only 3 out of 100 in the rest of the country. He said it is the youth of the Jammu province which has little representation in the employment sector and this can be seen that while the number of employees with Jammu origin is less than one lakh and the number of employees hailing from Kashmir is more than 3 lakh. He said similar is the position of Jammu in the state secretariat where Jammu has only less than 20 per cent representation as against Kashmir’s 80 per cent.Ashok Khajuria said it is the Jammu youth which has suffered extensively on account of the discriminatory policies pursued by the successive valley-dominated governments in the state and that it is time for the state government to reverse this policy and launch a special recruitment drive in Jammu province so that the Jammu youth gets its due in the vital employment sector. At the same time, Ashok Khajuria made it clear that the BJP is not against Kashmir and it is for a policy which is fair and based on the principle of justice and equity.