The Union Minister and BJP Candidate for Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency, Dr. Jitendra Singh, said on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi dismantled the policy of discrimination and appeasement followed by the Congress and its allies for six decades.

Addressing a series of election meetings in the upper reaches of Ramban and Banihal across the Pir Panjal, Dr Jitendra Singh said in contrast to the policy of appeasement and discrimination among different sections of society, Modi, after taking over in 2014, sought to introduce a new political culture wherein every section of society was addressed as per its needs, without any consideration of caste, creed or even the vote preference.

Following the approach of Prime Minister Modi, Dr Jitendra Singh said for the first time after Independence, the Ramban district which comprises different communities and different castes, also witnessed a new approach to public welfare schemes. For example, if a gas cylinder was to be provided to a needy household under the Ujjawala Scheme, it was never asked whether the household belonged to a Hindu or a Muslim, a Brahmin or a Thakur; it was also not asked whom the household had voted for in the last elections nor it was suggested where it should vote in the next elections, he said.

Similarly, he pointed out that under the PMAY, Pukka houses were constructed for all the needy as a result of which several households that may not have voted for BJP in the bygone decades also saw the entire colonies getting converted into Pukka houses.

Dr Jitendra Singh said the true essence of democracy is that every individual should have the confidence to believe that he is a claimant to the same facility as any other individual or any other section of society. Similarly, he said, the essence of democracy is that every mother in any household, big or small, has the confidence to dream that her child can grow up on the strength of hard work and rise to the highest position.

This essence of democracy has been realised for the first time under the ten-year regime of Prime Minister Modi, said Dr. Jitendra Singh and added that this has drastically changed our mindset and our social behaviour, particularly in districts like Ramban and Banihal where different communities live together and are also ready to standby each other.