- First Visit By A Prime Minister To Doda In Last 42 Years
- Promises Statehood, Young Leadership For J&K
Jammu- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the upcoming assembly election is a contest between the young leadership devoted to Jammu and Kashmir’s development and the three dynastic families that “destroyed” the region by “encouraging” corruption and “depriving” the people of their rights.
Addressing an election rally in support of BJP candidates in Doda district of Jammu region, Modi said terrorism is taking its last breath and reiterated his government’s promise of restoring statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
However, he cautioned the people against bringing the NC, Congress and the PDP back to power, alleging their policies had prepared the ground for terrorism, stifled young leadership and “hollowed out” J&K, and stressed thatthese parties back to power, claiming that doing so would push J&K back to the era of ‘destruction’
This election would decide the future of Jammu and Kashmir which has remained the target of foreign powers, he said.
This was the maiden election rally by the prime minister in Jammu and Kashmir ahead of the first phase of the assembly polls on September 18, which will cover 24 seats spread across the three districts of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban in Jammu and the south Kashmir districts of Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam.
Notably, this marks the first visit by a Prime Minister to the region in 42 years. The last prime ministerial visit to Doda occurred in 1982
Modi began his nearly 45-minute speech by welcoming the people who attended the rally in the Kashmiri language. “This time, the (assembly) election will decide the future of Jammu and Kashmir, which has remained the target of foreign powers since Independence,” he told the gathering.
“Not only this, dynastic politics made this beautiful region hollow from within. The political parties you trusted never cared for your children. They only cared for and projected their children and did not let new leadership grow,” Modi added.
The prime minister said his government focused on carving out a young leadership in Jammu and Kashmir soon after “we came to power at the Centre in 2014”.
“The youths of J&K used to face the brunt of terrorism. The parties that encouraged familism by misleading people enjoyed power and did not allow young leaders to take root.
“Panchayat elections had not taken place since 2000 and Block Development Council and District Development Council polls had never taken place… After 2014, I tried to bring forth the young leadership, holding panchayat polls in 2018, BDC elections in 2019, and DDC in 2020.
“The reason for holding these elections was to take democracy to the grassroots so that the youth could take charge,” Modi said.
Continuing his tirade against the Congress, NC and the PDP, he said these parties never wanted the youths to join politics but “we challenged their intentions and the result was that 30,000 to 35,000 youngsters got elected (in the local body elections) and took control of J&K.”
In the years under the BJP government, the prime minister said, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a new phase of development and the credit for that goes to these elected youth. “I salute them for their contribution,” he added.
“This assembly election is between three families and the youth. On one side, there are those three families, and on the other, my daughters and sisters who are driven by their dreams.
“The Congress, NC and PDP have done nothing short of a sin as these three families are responsible for destroying J&K. They encouraged corruption and land grabbers and deprived the people of their rights and facilities.
“They gave government jobs to only those linked to them, besides preparing the ground for separatism and terrorism,” the prime minister alleged.
He said the J&K BJP has promised in its manifesto the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrant pandits to provide them their rights.
“The BJP also promised to bring white paper to provide justice to all victims of terrorism and you are aware that BJP keeps its promise,” he said.
“We and you, together, will build a secure and prosperous J&K and this is Modi’s guarantee,” he said.
The prime minister said the political parties that ruled J&K for decades “deprived your children of facilities because they never accepted you as their own. You were only a ladder for them to reach the power.”
However, he said, “Modi is the person who cares for your children and your future and that is the reason that the BJP-led government opened a number of educational institutions and medical colleges to fulfil your long pending dreams”.
The statehood will be restored to J&K by the BJP government, he said but added, “You have to remain cautious of those who for their interests have taken your rights.”
“They are the ones who deprived Gujjars and other communities of their right to reservation and deprived sections of the society of their voting rights as guaranteed by the Constitution.
“They have exploited the constitution for their own benefit…,” he said.
“They never take names of OBC, SC, or ST, and after generations only the BJP could give them reservations; they even stole voting rights of some of you for seventy-five years. They also deceived the women J&K by enacting legislation that effectively deprived them of their own property,” he added.
He said it was the PDP, NC and Congress which opposed the Triple Talak bill introduced in the parliament by the BJP government “and I want to remind my Muslim sisters and daughters that they are not your well-wishers but dupes you to further their own agenda.”
The second phase of polling is on September 25 covering 26 constituencies. The last phase will be on October 1 for 40 seats.
‘Terrorism Counting Its Last Days’
Prime Minister Modi said that terrorism is taking its last breath in Jammu and Kashmir.
“In the last 10 years, the change witnessed in J&K is nothing short of a dream come true. The stone that used to be thrown at police and the Army is now being utilised for building a new Jammu and Kashmir… This was not done by Modi but by the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” the prime minister said.
He said the enemies of the country benefited from the policies of the three families as they promoted terrorism to make their shops run. “Due to their sins, thousands of our youths lost their lives.”
Referring to the peak of militancy when shops and business establishments used to be closed before dusk, he said the home minister of the previous Congress-led government was “frightened” to visit Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of Srinagar.
Modi said the BJP gave ticket to terror victim Shagun Parihar to reflect the party’s “determination” to wipe out terrorism from Jammu and Kashmir.
Joining the BJP’s election campaign in the Doda district, which along with six other districts of Chenab valley and south Kashmir are going to polls in the first phase of elections beginning September 18, PM Modi said the BJP is looking forward to make Jammu and Kashmir ‘free of terrorism’ and ‘heaven for tourists’, besides an attraction for international film shooting.
The BJP candidates fighting elections from eight assembly segments in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts were present on the dais along with other senior leaders of the party, including Union Minister Jitendra Singh and working president Satpaul Sharma.
Shagun Parihar (29), whose father Ajit Parihar and uncle Anil Parihar were shot dead by terrorists in November 2018, is fighting elections from the Kishtwar constituency. Gajay Singh (Doda), Shakti Raj Parihar (Doda West), Taraq Hussain Keen (Inderwal), Shagun Parihar (Kishtwar), Rakesh Singh Thakur (Ramban), Sunil Sharma (Padder-Nagseni) and Daleep Singh (Bhaderwah) and Mohd Saleem Bhat (Banihal) were the other candidates present.
“Shagun is sitting on the dias whose father and uncle were killed by terrorists. The BJP gave ticket to this daughter, a terror victim. She is not only a candidate but is a living picture of our determination to root out terrorism (from Jammu and Kashmir),” PM Modi said.
He said the BJP wants to make Jammu and Kashmir “free of terrorism and heaven for tourists”.
“I am reminded of the old days, especially Bhaderwah where shooting for films was hit after the eruption of terrorism as film-makers stopped coming to this place. After 10 years of hard work we are not only seeking to bring back film-makers of our country to this place, but also we are working in the direction to pave the way for international film-makers to come here.
“A new film policy has already been framed and Jammu and Kashmir will once again come on the silver screen,” PM Modi said.
He said lakhs of holiday-makers have started coming to the valley where new hotels are coming up. “We will further boost tourism and improve connectivity,” he said.
Asking people to go through the NC-Congress manifesto and the BJP’s poll promises, PM Modi said, “You should know what they are saying and what its outcome will be. The NC, Congress and PDP are talking of the restoration of Article 370.
“What does it mean to you? It implies that the three families will take away your reservations, deprive those who have been given voting rights after decades of wait, and also snatch the rights of daughters and sisters by bringing back Article 35A.
“If their manifesto gets implemented, schools will start burning again, stones will be back in children’s hands, strikes will affect the business, the youth will be jobless. Do you want them to bring those frightening days back?”
Modi is the first prime minister to visit Doda in more than four decades for election campaigning. (with inputs from PTI)
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