NC, PDP responsible for discriminating against Jammu region: Jitendra Singh

Union minister Jitendra Singh on Monday said NC and PDP are bemoaning Jammu's misery and "shedding crocodile tears" over the plight of the region which is an outcome of discrimination meted out to it during over four decades of their rule.

Singh, who was here for a BJP election committee meeting to discuss probable candidates for the upcoming District Development Council polls, said it was during the rule of the two parties that the civil secretariat was systematically filled with employees from a particular region, ignoring the rights of Jammu.

Earlier in the day, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti told reporters here that the people of Jammu are more upset over the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A by the Centre and the situation in the region is worse than Kashmir.

The people of Jammu are "disappointed" as they were "misled" into believing that Articles 370 and 35A benefitted Kashmiri Muslims and their abrogation would "pave the way for flowing of streams of milk, setting up of industries and jobs for the youth", she told reporters here.

"National Conference (NC) and PDP are bemoaning Jammu's misery for which they are themselves responsible and are shedding crocodile tears over the plight of Jammu which is an outcome of regional discrimination and injustice meted out to Jammu during over four decades of rule of these two political parties," Singh told PTI.

"The Public Service Commission was manipulated to fill all the vacancies including those in professional colleges and higher education teaching institutions in such a way that the candidates from Jammu were left out by design," the minister of state for personnel said.

He asked why the then PDP-led dispensation in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir did not implement a central government order dated January 1, 2016, abolishing interviews in selection for government jobs despite his repeated reminders including personal letters to the chief minister.

This, Singh alleged, was done intentionally to eliminate the written test merit of Jammu candidates by giving them poor marks in the interview and denying them jobs.

The Modi government is committed to redressing each issue one by one, but let us not forget that this is a baggage of the last 70 years and will require at least 70 months to be cleared, he said.

Moreover, the Modi government follows a policy of creating employability rather than only focussing on government jobs. This experiment has been successful even in the northeast where self-employment avenues were created for the youth in the last six years, he said.