Addressing a press conference in
Prof Hari Om alleged he left BJP after he was told on the face that he is an extremist and his name was equated with Syed Ali Shah Geelani by a national leader.He however, declined to name the BJP leader during the press conference but dropped several hints as to who was incharge of the party affairs in the state. The former BJP leaders also embarassed the party by claiming that ahead of Assembly polls BJP had envisaged alliance with the NC/PDP to come to power. "When i pointed out that the role of the BJP in the state is primarily ideological and not power sharing I was dubbed as a “militant” and “Syed Ali Shah Geelani”.
Hari Om said that the debate going on in the country over the developments within the BJP, particularly the issues rose by leading intellectual Arun Shourie, has inspired me to discuss the issue of my quitting the BJP in October 2008. I think it to be my responsibility to reveal reasons to many well-wishers of mine about my leaving the party to clear confusion, if any.
He said that in 1998, the BJP legislature party in the state opposed the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University Bill and subsequently in 2002 it supported an essentially anti-Jammu and anti-democratic amendment to the People’s Representation Act which banned delimitation of the assembly constituencies till 2026, in effect, till 2036. Those of us who pointed out the catastrophic implications of such a role of the BJP Legislature Party in the assembly, were not taken any cognizance of.
Prof Hari Om said that BJP avoided mention of Article 370 in its party manifesto, its
He alleged thatthe party had by then started supporting directly or indirectly the facets of self-rule proposal mooted by the PDP, as also the dangerous demilitarization demand, which baffled me more than anybody else. For me it was a time to say good-bye to the party. “These were some of the reasons which forced me to quit the BJP, which I served for years as its vice-president and spokesperson to the best of my capacity and capability. I do believe that no person with any self-respect would remain associated with this BJP, which, according to none other than Arun Shourie, is no more than a “kati patang”, a “private company” and a “personal promotion” and “personal protection society” and most of those controlling it bereft of any ideology, manipulators and self-seekers”, said Prof Om.
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