StormShadow
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Irrespective of how the BJP fares in Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has successfully turned the tables on Pakistan in his frequent visits to the state, ending the campaign with his election rally at Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar on 8 December.
No Indian Prime Minister has visited J&K so frequently – six times in the first six months of his tenure.
It does not matter whether the crowds in Sher-e-Kashmir stadium were brought in by BJP workers or whether those already attending the rally were rather lackluster in their response. Maybe Modi did not get a rockstar treatment as he chose to speak in Hindi (instead of Urdu) for a little over half an hour. These questions remain immaterial.
PM Narendra Modi in Srinagar during his maiden rally. AFP
What matters is that an Indian Prime Minister had addressed an election rally in the heart of Srinagar since the outbreak of militancy a quarter century ago. What matters is that this was the first time when someone had ‘dared’ to organize a function at Sher-e-Kashmir stadium for the first time since 1983, a point cleverly highlighted by Modi himself.
Jammu and Kashmir had virtually become out of bounds for Indian prime ministers in the last quarter century. Insurgency was at its worst during the 1991-93 period and this writer saw for himself in over a hundred trips to the troubled valley during the tenure of Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. The local people audaciously demanded 'azadi' in every nook and corner of the valley.
Those were the days when Pakistan had demonstrated to India what kind of mayhem it could wreak in Kashmir. That was Pakistan’s tactical victory and its capability demonstrator. The Indian economy was down in the dumps and just an year before the Narasimha Rao government took over India had to suffer the ignominy of pledging gold abroad to repay a $200 million installment of loan from World Bank.
That was the time when Pakistan had opened up its purse strings to terrorists and spent ten thousand rupees on each terrorist it trained and pushed inside India.
Things have changed over the past several years. The Modi government inherited a Jammu and Kashmir where Pakistan’s leverage is zilch. Yet, Modi’s predecessorManmohan Singh, did not visit the state as many times in his entire tenure of ten years as Modi has done in past six months.
It was extremely important for the Indian government to send a strong signal to Pakistan and the international community by visiting the state virtually once every month since he assumed office over six months ago.
Modi gave yet another message to Pakistan by ignoring the neighbour in his speech. This was something that I had written about last month here.
In fact, Modi himself categorically stated and elaborated on his strategy of dealing with Pakistan and spent several minutes to elaborate on his Pakistan strategy in his Sher-e-Kashmir stadium speech.
He said when he went to Kutch for the first time as chief minister of Gujarat he was told by some locals there that all politicians cutting across the party line would visit the region which borders Pakistan and would talk about the challenges from across the border but not about the plight of the people of Kutch and their plans for the people of Kutch. Modi said since then he made it a point to visit Kutch frequently and focus only on developmental issues, not on Pakistan.
Modi made it clear that he is replicating his Kutch strategy in Jammu and Kashmir. True to his promise, he did not utter the 'P' word after that and talked only about ameliorating the lot of the common man and focusing on uplifting the state’s economy, beefing up the tourism infrastructure and setting up top standard educational facilities.
Apart from conveying a message to Pakistan, Modi also conveyed a message to leaders within his own party. He named only former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his speech and said he would be carrying forward the policies of Vajpayee of working for ‘Insaniyat’ (humanity), ‘Kashmiriyat’ (Kashmiri culture and ethos) and ‘Zamhooriyat’ (democracy).
Modi did not mention even once the two marginalized BJP patriarchs – former deputy prime minister LK Advani, who as union home minister was directly in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir, and former HRD minister Murali Manohar Joshi who had made a huge song and dance about his high-octane event of unfurling the national flag in downtown Srinagar’s Lal Chowk.
This is Modi’s way of telling his party leaders that he is the boss and the entire central government machinery will be specially focused on Jammu and Kashmir’s development. And he also stressed that just as he has been frequenting the state in 2014, he will keep coming to the state next year too.
Modi’s deep focus on Jammu and Kashmir is in immense national interest. All political parties need to support him to the hilt in this respect.
Forget crowd size: Here's why Modi's rally in Srinagar was a huge success
No Indian Prime Minister has visited J&K so frequently – six times in the first six months of his tenure.
It does not matter whether the crowds in Sher-e-Kashmir stadium were brought in by BJP workers or whether those already attending the rally were rather lackluster in their response. Maybe Modi did not get a rockstar treatment as he chose to speak in Hindi (instead of Urdu) for a little over half an hour. These questions remain immaterial.
PM Narendra Modi in Srinagar during his maiden rally. AFP
What matters is that an Indian Prime Minister had addressed an election rally in the heart of Srinagar since the outbreak of militancy a quarter century ago. What matters is that this was the first time when someone had ‘dared’ to organize a function at Sher-e-Kashmir stadium for the first time since 1983, a point cleverly highlighted by Modi himself.
Jammu and Kashmir had virtually become out of bounds for Indian prime ministers in the last quarter century. Insurgency was at its worst during the 1991-93 period and this writer saw for himself in over a hundred trips to the troubled valley during the tenure of Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. The local people audaciously demanded 'azadi' in every nook and corner of the valley.
Those were the days when Pakistan had demonstrated to India what kind of mayhem it could wreak in Kashmir. That was Pakistan’s tactical victory and its capability demonstrator. The Indian economy was down in the dumps and just an year before the Narasimha Rao government took over India had to suffer the ignominy of pledging gold abroad to repay a $200 million installment of loan from World Bank.
That was the time when Pakistan had opened up its purse strings to terrorists and spent ten thousand rupees on each terrorist it trained and pushed inside India.
Things have changed over the past several years. The Modi government inherited a Jammu and Kashmir where Pakistan’s leverage is zilch. Yet, Modi’s predecessorManmohan Singh, did not visit the state as many times in his entire tenure of ten years as Modi has done in past six months.
It was extremely important for the Indian government to send a strong signal to Pakistan and the international community by visiting the state virtually once every month since he assumed office over six months ago.
Modi gave yet another message to Pakistan by ignoring the neighbour in his speech. This was something that I had written about last month here.
In fact, Modi himself categorically stated and elaborated on his strategy of dealing with Pakistan and spent several minutes to elaborate on his Pakistan strategy in his Sher-e-Kashmir stadium speech.
He said when he went to Kutch for the first time as chief minister of Gujarat he was told by some locals there that all politicians cutting across the party line would visit the region which borders Pakistan and would talk about the challenges from across the border but not about the plight of the people of Kutch and their plans for the people of Kutch. Modi said since then he made it a point to visit Kutch frequently and focus only on developmental issues, not on Pakistan.
Modi made it clear that he is replicating his Kutch strategy in Jammu and Kashmir. True to his promise, he did not utter the 'P' word after that and talked only about ameliorating the lot of the common man and focusing on uplifting the state’s economy, beefing up the tourism infrastructure and setting up top standard educational facilities.
Apart from conveying a message to Pakistan, Modi also conveyed a message to leaders within his own party. He named only former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his speech and said he would be carrying forward the policies of Vajpayee of working for ‘Insaniyat’ (humanity), ‘Kashmiriyat’ (Kashmiri culture and ethos) and ‘Zamhooriyat’ (democracy).
Modi did not mention even once the two marginalized BJP patriarchs – former deputy prime minister LK Advani, who as union home minister was directly in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir, and former HRD minister Murali Manohar Joshi who had made a huge song and dance about his high-octane event of unfurling the national flag in downtown Srinagar’s Lal Chowk.
This is Modi’s way of telling his party leaders that he is the boss and the entire central government machinery will be specially focused on Jammu and Kashmir’s development. And he also stressed that just as he has been frequenting the state in 2014, he will keep coming to the state next year too.
Modi’s deep focus on Jammu and Kashmir is in immense national interest. All political parties need to support him to the hilt in this respect.
Forget crowd size: Here's why Modi's rally in Srinagar was a huge success
