Victory in Haryana ‘historic’, accept people’s mandate in J-K: BJP

PTI, Oct 8, 2024, 8:50 PM IST

New Delhi: The BJP on Tuesday hailed its victory in Haryana as “historic” and accepted the people’s mandate in Jammu and Kashmir, saying that freeing the Union territory from terror and bringing in development will continue to remain the “top priority” under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to trends on the Election Commission’s website, the BJP was poised to form its government in Haryana with the party crossing the halfway mark and winning 48 out of 90 assembly seats in the election.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the National Conference-Congress alliance swooped the assembly polls, winning 48 out of 90 seats together. The BJP ended up winning 29 seats, securing the highest vote share of 25.6 per cent, and emerged as the second-largest party.

In a series of posts on X in Hindi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah termed the BJP’s win in the Haryana polls “massive” and said it was a victory of the unwavering faith of the farmers, poor, backward classes, soldiers and youth in the party’s government led by Prime Minister Modi at the Centre.

He said the people of ‘Veerbhoomi’ (land of braves) Haryana have completely rejected the “negative and divisive politics” of the Congress, which “divides” people on the lines of caste and region.

The people of the state have chosen the BJP’s 10-year track record of development and welfare of the poor, he said and asserted that the party’s governments at the Centre and in the state will fulfil all aspirations and hopes of the people under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.

In an apparent attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah said Haryana, the land of farmers and soldiers, has taught a lesson to those who go abroad and insult the country for their vote bank.

Shah expressed his “heartfelt gratitude” towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir for “blessing” the BJP with the highest percentage of votes in the assembly polls and giving the party the highest number of seats “in its history so far”.

“Also, I congratulate all the workers of BJP Jammu and Kashmir for their tireless hard work,” he wrote on X.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the BJP is committed to the development and security of Jammu and Kashmir, he said, adding: “Making Jammu and Kashmir terror-free and developing it like other parts of the country is the top priority of BJP.” “I am extremely happy that for the first time since the advent of terrorism in the 80s, the people of Jammu and Kashmir witnessed such a transparent and peaceful election and participated in the elections in large numbers,” Shah said.

“Under the BJP rule, the great festival of democracy was celebrated with full pride and peace in Jammu and Kashmir where there used to be reign of terror only and democracy was murdered every day under the Congress rule,” he said.

Shah also said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir remember the 1987 assembly elections very well when the Congress had made “a mockery of democracy by openly rigging the elections”.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that by scoring a “spectacular hat-trick of electoral victories” in Haryana, the BJP has proved that the people have faith in the strong and capable leadership of Modi as well as the politics of good governance and development.

“Many congratulations to Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi and all the party workers for the historic victory of BJP in the Haryana assembly elections,” he wrote on X.

Singh said people have once again lent their support to the positive politics of development by rejecting “negative politics”.

Every section of society is appreciating the BJP’s policies of development and welfare of the poor, he added.

The defence minister asserted that the party will keep working towards strengthening the development trajectory of the state under the leadership of PM Modi.

BJP chief J P Nadda said the party’s victory in the Haryana assembly polls reflects the people’s unwavering faith in the welfare policies implemented by the double-engine government led by Prime Minister Modi.

“This mandate shows that the people of Haryana have completely rejected the divisive and appeasement politics of the Congress,” he added.

“We accept the mandate received in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections,” Nadda said, adding that the BJP is committed to the all-round development of the Union territory and public welfare.

“We will continue to raise every issue of development and people’s interest in the state,” he said in a post on X.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the party’s in-charge for Haryana, called the BJP’s victory in the state “unprecedented and historic”, and said this mandate shows that the people of Haryana have rejected the casteism, regionalism, nepotism and negative politics of the Congress.

People have given their blessings to the politics of “non-stop development” of the BJP, he said.

Former Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi hit out at the Congress for “EVM bashing”, saying instead of blaming the electoral process, the opposition party should introspect on its shortcomings.

Naqvi termed the Jammu and Kashmir elections “historic”. “The fair and free elections make it crystal clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has established ‘jamhuriyat’ in the region,” he added.