Jammu: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that the decision to transform Jammu and Kashmir into a Union Territory is “temporary” and that the BJP-led government will restore statehood to the region.
Launching a scathing attack on the opposition Congress, National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he accused them of “inflicting wounds” on the people by depriving them of their rights.
The prime minister said it is the BJP, which has ended discrimination and is providing balm on the wounds of the victims of the three families.
Addressing an election rally at M A M Stadium in the heart of Jammu a day before the conclusion of campaigning for the final phase of the assembly polls on October 1, Modi said the decision to transform Jammu and Kashmir into a Union Territory is temporary.
“BJP is the only party which will restore statehood to the region,” he reiterated.
Escalating his attack, the prime minister said the “Congress, NC and PDP are annoyed by the changes in Jammu and Kashmir because they do not like your development”.
“They are saying they will form the government to revive the old system – the same discriminatory approach which led Jammu to be the biggest sufferer,” he added.
Modi said the Jammu region in particular faced “decades of injustice” at the hands of the three parties which not only defamed the Dogra legacy but also their rulers.
“The most corrupt Congress family is accusing the Dogra rulers to be corrupt,” he said, adding it was the BJP which ended the “historic discrimination” and provided justice to the region during the last 10 years.
Referring to the setting up of various education and health institutions, including the IITs and AIIMS and infrastructure projects like tunnels, the prime minister said the Congress, NC and PDP inflicted “wounds on the people” by depriving them of their rights but the BJP reached them, irrespective of their religion, and rubbed balm on their wounds by giving them voting rights, reservations and empowering women.
“In coming times, Jammu’s development will be further boosted. I want to tell the business community that the coming times will be full of opportunities for them,” he said, adding “our efforts are on to bring more investment to Jammu and set up industry to provide jobs to the local youth in their own districts”.
The prime minister said that earlier people close to the Congress, NC and PDP were the only persons who were getting jobs but “now every youth of J&K will get his right and honour under the BJP’s rule”.
“In the past 60 to 65 years, this region witnessed only destruction… Leave aside development, every sphere of life suffered. Modi is working sincerely to fill up all those pits of the past and will not leave any opportunity to address your issues,” he said.
Referring to the 2016 “surgical strikes across the border”, he said, “The terror mentors know that if they do anything wrong, Modi will find them even in ‘Pataal’ (netherworld).”
The third and final phase of the Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir will be held on October 1. As many as 40 seats — 24 in the Jammu region and 16 in Kashmir — will go to polls in this phase.
Modi claimed at the rally that there was a massive enthusiasm among people for the BJP. “The people of Jammu and Kashmir, who have been at the receiving end of the rule of three families — Congress, NC and PDP — do not want them back.”
“They do not want corruption, discrimination in jobs, terrorism, separatism and bloodshed. Instead, they want peace and a better future for their children,” the prime minister said in his nearly 45-minute speech.
Modi alleged that the Congress, NC and PDP are the “biggest enemies” of the Constitution as he accused these parties of strangulating the spirit of B R Ambedkar’s Constitution by “depriving” various sections of people of their right to vote.
This is the prime minister’s third visit to Jammu and Kashmir and fourth election rally in a fortnight.
He addressed an election rally in Doda district on September 14, four days before the first phase of elections, and two more rallies in Srinagar and Katra on September 19 in the run-up to the second phase of elections.
The campaigning for 40 assembly segments spread across seven districts of Jammu, Samba, Kathua and Udhampur in Jammu region and Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora districts of north Kashmir is ending on Sunday evening. (With inputs from PTI)
