Wearing the traditional Kashmiri pheran gown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday told voters in Srinagar that he had come to give them justice.
At an election rally attended by 8,000 people in the Sheri Kashmir Stadium, the prime minister promised to take the state to new levels of development. He criticised the "all pervasive" corruption under three decades of government led by the "Congress, father-son and father-daughter", referring to administrations led by Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar, and also by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti. He asked voters to give him "one chance" to bring development.
Modi noted with pride that the Indian army had come to the rescue of Kashmiris trapped in September’s floods.
What he didn’t talk about was more important. He failed to mention Article 370, which gives special status to Kashmir and which his Bharatiya Janata Party has promised to abolish. The four militant attacks on Friday found no place in his speech. He did not lay out his plans for his policy toward Pakistan. “Terrorism is over but corruption isn’t,” he said.
He also failed to speak about how the rights of Kashmiris had been abused, the problem with Pakistan and last month’s civilian killings in Chattergam for which army found its eight of its men guilty.
Moving on
In his elisions lay his message: it’s time to move ahead, he seemed to say. The violence of recent decades should be forgotten since he had come “to return people’s love with interest” by taking the path of development.
How this will change the situation on the ground is as yet unclear. Despite the high turnouts in the first two phases of voting, Kashmiris still have many complaints against India. It is unlikely that the situation in Kashmir will change after the elections, as the main issue ̶ the aspirations of the Kashmiri people ̶̶̶̶̶ remains unresolved.
The fact that the state is still far from returning to normalcy was obvious from the state of siege in Srinagar. Around a million people living in the city were forced to stay indoors during the rally. Around 3,000 paramilitary forces were stationed in and around the venue.
Controlled audience
Though the rally was supposed to be open to the public, the crowd consisted solely of supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party who had been bussed in from elsewhere, and members of small allies, such as Sajad Lone’s People’s Conference.
It’s clear that BJP has entered into the political fabric of the Valley successfully. But it has a long way to go to become a major player.
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At an election rally attended by 8,000 people in the Sheri Kashmir Stadium, the prime minister promised to take the state to new levels of development. He criticised the "all pervasive" corruption under three decades of government led by the "Congress, father-son and father-daughter", referring to administrations led by Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar, and also by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti. He asked voters to give him "one chance" to bring development.
Modi noted with pride that the Indian army had come to the rescue of Kashmiris trapped in September’s floods.
What he didn’t talk about was more important. He failed to mention Article 370, which gives special status to Kashmir and which his Bharatiya Janata Party has promised to abolish. The four militant attacks on Friday found no place in his speech. He did not lay out his plans for his policy toward Pakistan. “Terrorism is over but corruption isn’t,” he said.
He also failed to speak about how the rights of Kashmiris had been abused, the problem with Pakistan and last month’s civilian killings in Chattergam for which army found its eight of its men guilty.
Moving on
In his elisions lay his message: it’s time to move ahead, he seemed to say. The violence of recent decades should be forgotten since he had come “to return people’s love with interest” by taking the path of development.
How this will change the situation on the ground is as yet unclear. Despite the high turnouts in the first two phases of voting, Kashmiris still have many complaints against India. It is unlikely that the situation in Kashmir will change after the elections, as the main issue ̶ the aspirations of the Kashmiri people ̶̶̶̶̶ remains unresolved.
The fact that the state is still far from returning to normalcy was obvious from the state of siege in Srinagar. Around a million people living in the city were forced to stay indoors during the rally. Around 3,000 paramilitary forces were stationed in and around the venue.
Controlled audience
Though the rally was supposed to be open to the public, the crowd consisted solely of supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party who had been bussed in from elsewhere, and members of small allies, such as Sajad Lone’s People’s Conference.
It’s clear that BJP has entered into the political fabric of the Valley successfully. But it has a long way to go to become a major player.