Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that Assembly polls will soon be held in Jammu and Kashmir and statehood restored in the region. He was addressing a public rally in Udhampur asking people to vote for BJP candidates Dr Jitendra Singh (Udhampur) and Jugal Kishore Sharma (Jammu) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“Aap logo ne bahut sarey kasht jhele hain. Mainey aap ke liye bahut bada sapna dekha hai. Hum rajya ka darja bahal karengey. (You have suffered a lot. I have seen a very big dream for you. We will restore statehood),” he said.
“The day is not too far when Assembly elections will be held in J&K. Everybody will be visiting his own MLA and minister,” PM Modi said, mentioning that whatever has happened so far is just a trailer. “I have to get down to work on making a new and beautiful picture” of Jammu and Kashmir
PM Modi accused the INDIA bloc, especially the Congress, of misleading people across the country over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370. He dared the Opposition’s INDIA bloc, especially the Congress, to announce once that they will restore Article 370.
For power, they created a wall of 370 through which the people of J&K and those elsewhere in the country were not able to look towards the other side, he said, adding, “With your blessing, Modi has not demolished that wall, but also buried its rubble under the ground.”
After having failed to make the people in Jammu and Kashmir oppose the abrogation of Article 370, wherever Congress men go in other states they mislead people by asking them what benefit they got, he said. Let the Congress men ask people in Jammu and Kashmir how abrogation of Article 370 has benefitted them. “Earlier, mothers used to worry that their children may fall in the wrong hands once they move out of the house. Now, they sleep comfortably at home,” PM Modi said.
He said the 2024 Lok Sabha poll is the first election after a decade in which militancy, stone pelting, separatism and firing at the border are not an issue. Development has replaced militancy, he pointed out, explaining that this has increased public confidence, encouraging them to say ‘Modi government once again’.
There are no incidents of stone pelting or torching of schools in the Valley now, rather the schools are decorated today, the prime minister said. “These people shall ask the women of Jammu and Kashmir, Valmikis, Gorkhas, refugees, Paharis, Padaris, etc how much they have benefitted post the abrogation of Article 370.” A record number of tourists have visited Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370, he further said.
Modi asked the people to vote for Dr Singh and Kishore saying that it is not just the election of an MP but an opportunity to give the country a strong government. “You have seen that how a strong government can deal with challenges facing the country,” he added.