Amidst Opposition BJP’s charges that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was not ready to meet and face the challenge of protesting Pulwama martyrs’ widows which ended yesterday, a number of other widows of martyrs of different wars on Saturday presented themselves in front of the CM hailing his government’s decision on compensation package to war widows.

“The government’s stand is correct, only the children of the martyrs’ widow should get their rights, especially a government job on a compassionate job,” a few of the visiting widows told the media outside CMR.

In one voice, the women said they had come to meet the chief minister on their own after seeking an appointment and the protest by three widows on their demands was not correct.

“No government job be given on compassionate ground either to devar or Jeth (brother-in-law) of the widow, only and only son or daughter shall be given this privilege”, they unanimously said.

In an interaction with the CM during a long spell of meeting, Martyr Havaldar Ramesh Kumar Dagar’s wife Veerangana Kusum said, “The demand for giving a job to brother-in-law was not according to the rules. This demand of the Pulwama widows sitting on dharna was illegitimate. Other widows also have to bear the consequences of demanding jobs for other family members instead of the martyr’s children. Demonstrations on unfair demands affect the image of all widows”.

Krishna Jat, wife of Martyr Havaldar Shyam Sunder Jat, said, “Only the children of martyrs have the right to get jobs by the state government. It is wrong for heroines to agitate to get jobs for brother-in-law, brother-in-law or other family members. The stand of the state government in this matter is sensitive and correct”.

Priyanka Kanwar, wife of Martyr Lance Naik Madan Singh and Namita Ramawat, wife of Martyr Havaldar Hoshiar Singh, also termed the sit-in demonstration as wrong and against the rules for providing jobs to other relatives of Martyr’s Veerangan and children. On this occasion, the other widows of the martyrs expressed satisfaction over the package being given by the state government to the families of the martyrs.

Earlier, Gehlot said that the honour of martyrs and widows was the highest for the state government and the dependents of the martyrs have been employed by the state government in government services as per the rules.

“The rules will be followed in future also and no injustice will be allowed to happen to the dependents of the martyrs”, he assured. Mr. Gehlot reiterated that the Kargil package was implemented for the martyrs in the previous tenure.

In an indirect jibe at BJP, CM said, “There should be no politics on matters related to martyrs. There is no provision in the rules to give a job to any other family member other than the widow or children. This demand is not correct, due to this the widows may have to face undue family and social pressure in future”.