Srinagar: The “rise” of the BJP in the Jammu and Kashmir elections is worrying as it indicates secularism is shrinking in the country, senior Congress leader Gulam Nabi Azad has said.
Azad was speaking after early trends during counting of votes on Sunday showed the BJP is leading in Jammu.
"It does worry me. These trends are the outcome of unfortunate things happened in July and August. The question is that secularism is getting shrunk at the cost of development," said Azad, a former chief minister of the state.
"The rise of BJP in the border state which is facing terrorism is a worrying factor for the entire country. Their only vision is to create communal tension among the people," he said. "They are being rejected across the country because of their communalism."
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would decide on the party’s alliance after election results are declared. Azad said he personally would like to tie up with a party whose national and secular credentials are known.
The Congress was in a difficult situation during the Amarnath land controversy. "If we had withdrawn (the order of land allotment) one region would have erupted and if we had not the other region would have. It is difficult to take a decision keeping all the three regions in mind," said Azad, who was the chief minister when the government decided to transfer forestland to the Amarnath temple trust.
The decision outraged Muslims and when the government decided to stop the land transfer Hindus took to the streets.
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