New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir is the “crown of India” and a “viksit (developed) J&K is a priority for a viksit Bharat”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday while addressing a public meeting in Srinagar. Modi, who was on his first visit to the valley since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, said he has always seen the people of J&K as his family.
“Family members always remain in one’s hearts and minds,” he said, adding that he would leave no stone unturned in “repaying” the affection bestowed on him by the people of J&K.
“I am working hard to win your hearts. I think I am going in right direction. My efforts to keep winning your heats will continue,” he told those in attendance at the Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar.
Jammu and Kashmir, he said, has many lakes where one can easily spot lotuses — the electoral symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “This is a sign from nature” of the party’s “deep connection” with J&K, he added.
He then went on to say that the abrogation of Article 370 “unshackled” J&K and paved the way for it to “breathe freely”. Training his guns at the Opposition, Modi said, “For decades, Congress and its allies have misled Jammu and Kashmir and the country in the name of Article 370. Was (Article) 370 beneficial to J&K or a few political families?”
With weeks to go for the general election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been promoting the abrogation of Article 370 as among the major achievements of Modi’s second term in power.
In his speech Thursday, Modi said that the “talent of youth of Jammu and Kashmir is now being fully respected” as a result of his government’s decision to scrap Article 370. “Today, everyone here has equal opportunity and equal rights,” he added.
Modi also said that the abrogation also resulted in ‘voting rights for refugees from Pakistan including members of Valmiki community’.
This was the second public meeting the Prime Minister addressed in the UT in the past month. During a visit to Jammu on 20 February, Modi had launched developmental projects worth an estimated Rs 32,000 crore. While in Srinagar, he is said to have launched 53 projects worth an estimated Rs 6,400 crore, mainly in tourism and agriculture sectors.
During his visit to Srinagar, Modi also reiterated his retort to remarks made by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav — who at a rally of the INDIA bloc in Patna last week said the Prime Minister’s dislike for “dynastic politics” could be attributed to him having “no family” of his own.
“After Independence, J&K was the biggest victim of dynastic politics. Troubled by the country’s and J&K’s development, dynasts are making personal attacks against me. They are saying Modi has no family. But the country is giving them a befitting reply. In every corner of the country people are saying ‘main hoon Modi ka parivar’ (I am Modi’s family),” he said.
The Prime Minister went on to add, “Modi is guaranteeing its family that under no circumstances will development grind to a halt in Jammu & Kashmir.”
Taking aim at the Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference (NC), Modi said “parivarvaad” (familism) and “corruption” brought about the destruction of the J&K Bank, a scheduled commercial bank incorporated in 1938.
“They (non-BJP parties) destroyed the bank because of mismanagement and a bid to give their family members jobs,” he alleged.
He added that the BJP government at the Centre carried out multiple reforms in a bid to revive the J&K bank. “Because of the government’s efforts, J&K Bank has become strong again. Look at Modi ki guarantee — (it was) a dying bank and now its profit is touching 1,700 crore,” he said.
Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha, Union Minister Jitendra Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Gulam Ali Khatana were also seated on stage at the time.
“In J&K, a new journey of peace, honour and brotherhood has begun. Whether it is G20 or Amarnath yatra or (resumption of) Muharram procession after 34 years, for the first time everyone together in J&K celebrated festivals and occasions,” said Sinha.
He added, “Earlier people bought peace. But you (Modi) decided that we must not believe in buying peace but in establishing it for the long run.”
The upcoming Lok Sabha polls will be the first major election to be held in J&K post the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, besides the district development councils (DDC) polls held in 2020.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)