In a clear message to the Kashmiri separatists, BJP President Amit Shah today said the central government will not have talks with those who do not believe in the Indian Constitution but those who consider themselves Indians.
Acknowledging that the situation in the valley has been worrisome for last few months, he said if anybody thinks that Kashmir could be separated from India, then it is nothing but a daydream which will never come true.
In his inaugural address at the party's National Council meeting here, he also invoked the party’s ‘garib kalyan’ agenda, saying the central government has been dedicated to the development of the poor since Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister. He said the next one year will be observed as 'garib kalyan year'.
With the Prime Minister and other senior leaders listening, Shah devoted most of his speech to the saffron party’s ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay, whose 100th birth anniversary fell today, and his concepts of 'antyodaya' (uplift of the last man) and integral humanism.
Touching upon the Kashmir unrest and Uri terror attack, the BJP chief asserted, "Kashmir is an unbreakable part of India and no force in the world can separate it from us."
The BJP-led government "is willing to discuss all paths to peace but the talks will be held with those who consider themselves Indians… No talks will be held with anybody who does not believe in the Constitution,” he said.
This is a clear message to separatists who are insisting that talks cannot be held within the Indian Constitution.
Referring to the Uri attack, Shah said BJP will not tolerate terrorism and the party and its government stand for "zero tolerance" to it.
Heaping praise on Modi, he compared him with noted freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak, saying he had infused hope and aspiration among masses with his “Gujarat model” during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and later with his work in the same way Tilak gave voice to the nation’s discontent with the colonial rule with his call for swaraj (self-rule).
BJP governments in 13 states besides the Centre are now working to unlift and empower the poor following the Upadhyay’s concept and that is why its dispensations in many states have been re-elected on the basis of performance, he said.
