Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said that while two of the refugees from West Pakistan, namely Dr Manmohan Singh and Inder Kumar Gujral, went on to become Prime Ministers of India, the contradiction was that those of the refugees from the same category who chose to settle down in Jammu & Kashmir were not even granted the right to vote in the State Assembly election or to contest for the State Legislative Assembly election. However, he said, after Prime Minister Modi corrected this anomaly on 5th August 2019 by abrogating Article 370, now even a refugee from Pakistan settled in Jammu & Kashmir can contest the election and also aspire to become an MLA or Minister or even Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir.
Dr Jitendra Singh expressed the hope that the next quarter century would mark the golden chapter in the growth story of India and Jammu & Kashmir will have a major role to play. Under Prime Minister Modi, he said, the unexplored potential of peripheral territories like Jammu & Kashmir are now being put to utilisation and several new Start-Up initiatives, particularly in the agricultural sector, are taking off from Jammu & Kashmir.
Dr Jitendra Singh was addressing a largely attended rally of West Pakistan refugees, held close to the International Border (IB) near Jammu. Earlier, he went to Bagona, the native village of Brig. Rajinder Singh, who had attained martyrdom during the Pakistan attack in 1947.
