Former union minister and senior Congress leader, Prof. Saifuddin Soz on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s narrative didn’t produce a positive effect in Kashmir.
“To say the least, PM Modi did not keep the spirit of his Red Fort message alive in Kashmir narrative, the other day. If economic development were a solution to ‘unease in minds’ of a people, the conflicts would not have occurred in the world at all,” he said in statement to KNS.
He said that PM Modi lumped all agitating youth together and described them as ‘misguided youth’ who must hasten to return to ‘mainstream’. “Sadly, the PM felt satisfied; perhaps, there was no need to reach the ‘unrest’ in the minds of the agitating youth. PM also had no ‘response’ whatsoever to the so-called ‘Agenda of Alliance’ which is being offered to Kashmir as a measure of peace and hope by Modi’s coalition partner,” he said.
“As is being perceived by political observation, Modi’s non-response to the Chief Minister’s urges for creating an atmosphere of reconciliation in Kashmir shows a situation of harder times for future of the coalition government in J&K.
“The best course for the ‘mainstream’ parties and groups in Kashmir is to raise an effective voice for an unfettered dialogue process to be initiated by the centre with the leadership that is totally alienated with the centre which is unmistakably the Hurriyat Conference,” he said.
He said that if the mainstream parties do not rise to the occasion ‘soon’ they will be held responsible for the killings in Kashmir that have gone unabated for quite a long time. “In fact, time is running out for them (mainstream)”.