Amid raging debate across the country after the screening of the movie "The Kashmir Files", BJP led Delhi Municipal Corporation renamed a school as 'Shaheed Tika Lal Taploo' in Rohini area in sector 7-B.
BJP has taken this step after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has passed "insensitive" remarks towards displaced Kashmiri Pandits while rejecting the demand of making "The Kashmir Files' tax-free.
Union Minister and Lok Sabha member from Udhampur-Doda constituency of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr. Jitendra Singh presided over the function in which the school was named after Tika Lal Taploo.
On September 14, 1989, Tika Lal Taploo became the first target among the many Kashmiri Pandits who were killed by terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir during the events of 1989 and 1990. Taploo was brutally murdered at the gunpoint by the terrorists. The killing of the first Kashmiri Pandit Taploo led to the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.
Since then, September 14th has been observed as 'Martyrdom Day' by displaced Kashmiri Pandits and organizations associated with the cause to commemorate the death of Taploo and all those who lost their lives in the Valley.
National Conference, Congress had vested interest in KP exodus: Dr Jitendra
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh alleged that contrary to the myth being spread that the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) was engineered by the then Governor Jagmohan at the behest of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the matter of fact is that the National Conference (NC), Congress and their Kashmir-centric allies had a vested interest in KP exodus because it gave impetus to their policy of appeasement towards a particular community and benefited them by creating a deep communal divide.
Singh said, in the aftermath of the Kashmiri Pandit exodus and the overwhelming atmosphere of terror that followed, the voter turnout in 1996 and subsequent elections remained confined to around 10%, which the National Conference and its allies were successful in easily manipulating to get their members elected as MLAs and MPs.
He recalled that he had on the floor of the Parliament said that there should be a provision to fix the minimum threshold of voter turnout percentage to allow a candidate to be recognized as having been elected as a member of Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly.
Killing of Taploo an assault on composite culture of Kashmir
Describing the death of Tika Lal Taploo as not only an assault on Kashmiri Pandits but a bigger assault on the composite culture of Kashmir valley, Singh said, Taploo enjoyed reverence across all sections of society for his integrity and compassion. He said, there are several other aspects also, which require more films to be made to depict, for example, why in a democratic setup, a section of society was forced to become refugees in their own country and why this did not elicit the world's attention.
BJP mocks Delhi CM for showing insensitivity towards the plight of KPs
Vijender Gupta MLA and former Delhi BJP president welcomed Tika Lal Taploo's family which now resides in Rohini, along with 237 families of Kashmiri Hindus or Pandits.
Gupta said that the people of Delhi are shocked at the level of insensitivity and apathy displayed by Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal on the plight of Kashmiri Hindus. Not only did the AAP government refuse to make 'The Kashmir Files' tax-free, but its leaders also made a mockery of the Kashmiri Hindus massacre in the Delhi assembly. This attitude is proof of CM Arvind Kejriwal's anti-Hindu mindset.
According to reports, it was an emotionally charged moment when people remembered Tika Lal Taploo and what ensued in Kashmir after his brutal killing. Many of them recalled the dark days of the Kashmiri Hindu genocide and subsequent coverup that took place due to vested interests, especially in politics and media.
