SRINAGAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday (Mar 7) he was working to “win hearts” in Indian-administered Kashmir, on his first visit to the disputed region’s main city since its semi-autonomy was cancelled in 2019.
Modi’s government stripped the Muslim-majority territory of its special constitutional status nearly five years ago, splitting the former state into two territories directly ruled from New Delhi.
The move, widely welcomed across India, angered many in the densely militarised territory.
“I am working hard to win your hearts, and my attempt to keep winning your hearts will continue,” the Hindu nationalist leader said at a public rally in Srinagar.
Rebels in the Himalayan region have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan – which controls a smaller part of the Kashmir region and, like India, claims it in full.
“Jammu and Kashmir is not just a region, it is the crown of the country,” Modi said at the rally in a stadium attended by thousands.
Modi took pride in having cancelled the region’s constitutional special status and inherited protections of land and jobs for its permanent residents.
He said the former rules and “dynastic politics” had limited the region’s potential.
HEAVY SECURITY
“Today, from Kashmir I extend my greeting for the coming Ramadan to the entire country,” Modi said, ahead of the Muslim holy month of fasting, expected to begin in the coming days.
Thousands of armed police and paramilitary forces were deployed, and checkpoints set up across Srinagar.
Modi also remotely inaugurated a slew of development projects and government schemes for boosting agro-economy and tourism in Kashmir and other parts of India.
Source: CNA
