Srinagar, Jul 28: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that those trying to spread hate and obstruct development works in Kashmir will never succeed as he cited a recent government exercise to assert that power of development is stronger than the might of bullets and bombs.
In his monthly ‘Mann ki baat’ broadcast, he said the “Back to Village” programme held in June in Jammu and Kashmir saw enthusiastic participation of villagers everywhere, including in very sensitive and remote villages, as government officials reached there to discuss development schemes with locals.
“When I got to know about ‘Back to Village’ program at length, I felt that the entire nation should get to know about this program,” he said.
Referring to a letter written by one Muhammad Aslam, a resident of Shopian, PM Modi said the south Kashmir resident requested him that the program must be repeated every three months with online monitoring.
“This was a one of a kind programme where the public directly entered into a dialogue with the government. The people of Kashmir are eager to join the national mainstream. Their enthusiasm is reflected in the mechanism of this program,” PM Modi said, adding “… such programmes and people’s participation in them show that people of Kashmir want good governance. This also proves the dictum that the power of development is stronger than the might of bullets and bombs.”
“It is clear that those who wish to spread hatred en route to development, pose hurdles will never succeed in their sinister plans,” he added.
For the first time, the prime minister said, senior officials reached the doorsteps of villagers across 4,500 panchayats.
“For the first time, senior officials reached the villages, directly, even those officials who had never visited a village were available to the villagers at their doorsteps, to judge for themselves to gauge the obstacles in the path of progress and to remove the hurdles,” the PM said.
These officials also reached villages on border which live under the shadow of cross-border firing, he said, adding that they also visited sensitive villages in the Shopian, Pulwama, Kulgam and Anantnag- districts which have seen heightened militant activity of late, without any fear.
“This program was not a mere government formality that officials roam around the village and return to base. Instead, officials spent two days and a night at the panchayat, enabling them to spend time in the village and meet almost every denizen of the village and to reach across to every establishment in the village,” the PM said.
He appreciated the state administration for making the program inclusive by organising competitions where sports kits, MNREGA job cards and SC/ST certificates were distributed.
“There were Financial Literacy camps and Agriculture and Horticulture department set up stalls where knowledge about governmen schemes was disseminated. In this manner, this program became a festival celebrating development, a festival of people’s participation and a festival of people’s awakening!,” he said.
He praised the people of Kashmir for being open-hearted about becoming equal stakeholders in the development of their state by participating in the ‘Back to Village’ program.
Modi also noted that over 3 lakh pilgrims completed the Amarnath Yatra since July 01 and said it has already outnumbered the number of devotees during 60 days in 2015.
Hailing the hospitality of the people of the state, he said “I would especially like to thank the hospitality of the people of Jammu Kashmir for successful organization of Amarnath Yatra. Those who return after performing this pilgrimage become imbued with the feelings of warmth and kinship displayed by the people of the state,” he said.
