Srinagar, Jan 30; Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) general secretary Ashok Koul on Friday condemned the assault on a minor Kashmiri shawl seller in Uttarakhand as “unfortunate and wrong”, asserting that every citizen has the right to travel and do business anywhere in the country.
The BJP senior leader said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have already condemned the incident and the BJP party too denounces it unequivocally.
“Our country is one and such incidents should not happen,” Koul told KNS.
He said Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah had also spoken to his Uttarakhand counterpart and the BJP too has taken up the matter with its state unit there.
On the issue of separate statehood for Jammu, Koul ruled out any such proposal, saying the party considers Jammu and Kashmir as one entity.
“There is no such proposal. This has been said by one or two individuals only. Our national general secretary has already issued a statement making it clear that Jammu and Kashmir is one,” he said.
Koul said he has stated this multiple times that Jammu and Kashmir is one and will remain one.
“We will not allow it to be divided. It will not be split into two parts,” he said.
