The big take-away from Home Minister Amit Shah’s J-K visit was his public mobilization around the idea that Kashmir after the withdrawal of its special constitutional status was better than before. To this end, his two rallies in the UT were a roaring success. A report by Riyaz Wani
As the high-profile ministerial visits from New Delhi to Srinagar go, the Union home minister Amit Shah’s October 4-5 visit to Jammu and Kashmir can be considered very successful. During his stay, the union minister reviewed the security situation and addressed two rallies, one at Rajouri in Jammu and another at Baramulla in Kashmir Valley. He also launched development projects in both regions. The security meeting on October 5 was attended by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, the National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, top officials of the army, paramilitary forces, state police, and civil administration. The meeting took stock of the working of the security grid and the various actions being taken to reduce the incidents of terrorism over the last few years.
During the meeting, Shah directed the security forces to strive to make the border and the Line of Control impregnable to achieve peace in Kashmir. He also asked the Army and the police to make “coordinated efforts through meticulous and well-planned counter-terrorism operations to wipe out terrorism.”
The cases registered under the UAPA were also reviewed and it was stressed that the investigation should be timely and effective.
“Terror eco-system comprising elements that aid, abet and sustain the terrorist-separatist campaign to the detriment of the well-being of common man requires to be dismantled,” said the union home minister.
Two rallies
The big take-away from the Shah’s visit was his public mobilization around the idea that Kashmir after the withdrawal of its special constitutional status was better than before. To this end, his two rallies in the union territory were a roaring success, and not necessarily because they were well-attended. Over ten thousand people attended the Baramulla rally, which was unusual and unexpected for a BJP leader, otherwise perceived to be working against Muslim interests – more so in Kashmir. This, despite the fact that Baramulla town where the rally was held was under siege for the entire day. The shops weren’t allowed to open, and the traffic couldn’t pass. No traffic was also allowed on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway.
This, however, didn’t detract from the significance of the Baramulla rally. It was once unthinkable that a rally of this size could be held by a top BJP leader in a north Kashmir town, once roiled by militancy and conflict. Shah made most of it by training guns at the three families – Abdullahs, Muftis and Gandhis – who, according to him, have ruled and ruined Jammu and Kashmir over the past seven decades. He asserted that Naya Kashmir, forged after the erasure of the special status, was a far better place than the earlier, counting the reduction of violence, investments in development projects, and the resurrection of tourism among the BJP government’s achievements.
