Amid regular ceasefire violations and high tensions along the international border in Jammu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Jammu on Friday to attend the centenary function of a senior Congress leader.
Contrary to all expectations, the much-awaited financial package for the State was, however, not announced.
Mr. Modi attended the birth centenary of senior Congress leader and the State’s Finance Minister for 25 years, Girdhari Lal Dogra. Dogra is the father-in-law of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who also attended the function.
Dogra, born in 1915, was the Finance Minister during the rule of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and later went on to serve several terms as Finance Minister as a Congress Minister.
Dogra, who presented a record 26 budgets, worked with three Prime Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir: Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, Bakshi Ghulam Ahmad and GM Sadiq.
He remained MLA for six terms and was elected Member of Parliament twice.
In his speech, Mr. Modi showered praise on Dogra, calling him a visionary and a great judge of character.
“He [Dogra] must have been a great judge of character considering the son-in-law he chose. Otherwise their ideologies had no meeting ground; and whether or not he gave [Arun Jaitley] a chair, he gave him his daughter,” Mr. Modi said.
Dig at dynasty politicsAt the same time, the Prime Minister took an indirect dig at dynasty politics and alluded to Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law.
“These days we know very well what sons-in-law are up to,” Mr. Modi said. The Congressmen in the gathering saw it as an attack on “party president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra.”
Later, Congress spokesperson Rajiv Shukla reacted strongly to Mr. Modi’s son-in-law jibe, saying it was not an appropriate forum to make such remarks. BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli, however, described the Congress reaction as a sign of “guilty conscience.”
Besides Mr. Modi and Mr. Jaitley, the function was attended by J&K Governor N.N. Vohra, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, and senior Congress leader Karan Singh.
Mr. Azad earlier referred to Dogra as “24 carat Congressman,” who was above “regionalism, casteism and communalism.”
Oddly, while Mr. Modi made a swipe at sons-in-law, he indirectly praised Mr. Azad, while talking of Dogra: “He must have been a very good judge of people, as he made Ghulam Nabi ji Yuva Congress chief.”
Where is package, asks OmarFormer Chief Minister and National Conference working president, Omar Abdullah, used Twitter to question the silence over the much-anticipated economic package for the State.
“50,000 Cr; 70,000 Cr; 100,000 Cr. How large was the package finally announced for the State? Turned out to be the perfect round figure,” Mr. Abdullah tweeted.
