PM says his Government will work to realise dream of Viksit Bharat 2047

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday promised early Assembly polls and restoration of Statehood to the people of Jammu and Kashmir at an election rally in Udhampur.

The rally was organised to garner support for BJP candidates, Dr Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore, seeking reelection for the third consecutive term from the Udhampur-Doda and Jammu-Reasi Lok Sabha seats respectively.

Continuing his tirade against the Congress, Modi also roasted the INDIA Bloc partners for allegedly eating mutton during the holy month of Sawan last year. Modi claimed the intentions of “these people” were to tease the people of the country, “just like the Mughals”.

Seeking blessings of Maa Vaishno Devi from a distance, Modi, sporting a Dogra turban, said the time is not far when the Assembly polls will be held in Jammu and Kashmir and the Statehood will also be restored.

“You have seen the worst, so this looks like a lot to you. You feel good to see development. But Modi thinks bigger. Modi has a great vision. Whatever has happened till now is just a trailer.

“I have to get busy creating a new and wonderful picture of the new Jammu and Kashmir. The time is not far when Assembly elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir and it will get the status of Statehood. You will be able to share your dreams with your MLA and your Ministers,” Modi asserted.

He said Jammu and Kashmir has completely changed and the biggest thing is that there has been a change of heart as people have moved from disappointments towards hope.

“I have been coming to Jammu and Kashmir for the last five decades. I remember the Ekta Yatra in 1992 to unfurl the tricolour at the Lal Chowk (in Srinagar). We received a grand welcome. In 2014, after offering prayers at the Vaishno Devi temple, I addressed a gathering at this very venue and gave a guarantee of freeing the people who have suffered for generations (due to terrorism),” the Prime Minister said.

He slammed the Congress for delaying the Shahpur-Kandi dam’s completion in Jammu and Kashmir and said “the water of our Ravi river was flowing to Pakistan while our farmers in Samba and Kathua were suffering. Modi fulfilled the guarantee to farmers as thousands of them are going to benefit from the completion of the dam, which will also illuminate the houses here”.

The Prime Minister asserted that “all the issues of every section of society” in Jammu and Kashmir will be resolved.

He said his Government will work round the clock to realise the dream of “Viksit Bharat 2047”.

“This is the guarantee of Modi. In the last 10 years, we have cracked down on terrorism and corruption in the region. In the next five years, we will take this region to new heights of development and progress,” the Prime Minister said.

“After decades, this election is taking place without the fear of terrorism, separatism, stone-pelting, strikes, and cross-border terrorism, which are no more election issues. There used to be a concern regarding the security of the Vaishno Devi and Amarnath pilgrimages, but the situation has changed altogether. Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing development and the people’s faith in the Government is getting strengthened,” Modi said.

He said he has fulfilled his promise of putting an end to the long sufferings of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and challenged the Congress and other Opposition parties to bring back Article 370 of the Constitution, which was revoked by the BJP-led Centre in August 2019. 

Buoyed by the enthusiastic response of the BJP supporters present at the rally, Modi trained his guns towards the dynastic parties. “Families with a dynastic set-up have harmed Jammu and Kashmir more than anyone else. These parties are of the family, by the family and for the family and they are the ones who created the wall of Article 370. They created an illusion that only Article 370 can safeguard the lives of the people here.

“With your blessings, Modi has not only demolished this wall but even buried its debris. I challenge the Opposition parties, especially the Congress, to announce that they will get Article 370 back. The country will not even look at their faces,” he said.

Modi said some political parties thought that revoking Article 370 would engulf the region in a fire and Jammu and Kashmir would get separated from the country.

“The youngsters of the region showed them the mirror. When the people came to know about their reality and rejected them, these parties started spreading this impression to the rest of the country. Ask my sisters and daughters in Jammu and Kashmir who were craving for their rights? They know that their brother and their son gave them their rights,” he said.

The Prime Minister asserted that the revocation of Article 370 ensured justice for various sections of society, who got their constitutional rights for the first time after independence.

“The mothers of our soldiers are no more concerned about stone-pelting. The mothers in the valley are showering me with blessings because they are no longer concerned that their sons would fall into the wrong hands. They are sleeping with ease. Bridges are not burnt anymore while new AIIMS, IITs and IIMs are coming up along with modern tunnels, wide roads and railway travel, which are becoming the destiny of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

“Tourists and pilgrims are coming in large numbers to both regions of Jammu and Kashmir, which was a dream of the people here,” he said, adding, “Your dream is Modi’s resolve. Modi has dedicated every minute of his life to you and the country and is working 24x7 to fulfill the guarantee of ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047.

Referring to the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Modi said, “The Congress says Ram Mandir is an election issue for BJP. I want to say Ram Mandir was never an election issue, nor will it ever become an election issue. The struggle for Ram temple was going on even before the birth of the BJP... When foreign invaders destroyed our temples, the people of India fought to save their religious places. The leaders of the Congress and its allies lived in big bungalows but when it came to changing the tent of Ram Lalla, they used to turn their backs,” he said.