Srinagar: Massive participation of people in Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s rally in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Wednesday is seen as a milestone in the Government of India’s endeavour to “connect with Kashmiris and announce the dawn of a new Kashmir”.
Shah’s Baramulla rally at a stadium attracted a crowd of over 40,000 from different parts of Kashmir. “The rally symbolised the dawn of new hope and was not a regular day in Kashmir,” a political observer said.
“People were standing along and singing the national anthem together and the entire atmosphere was filled with slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jay’.
The new India envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking shape to unite everyone and pledging together in this ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to make Swarnim Bharat.
The new energy was felt among the youth when Amit Shah gave a clarion call to them to come and make India and Kashmir great.”
He said that this successful rally should serve as an eye-opener for the international community regarding the ground situation in Kashmir.
“People of Kashmir want to change, peace, and development. They want to avail benefits of centrally-sponsored schemes formulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the people of hilly areas like Kashmir,” the political observer said.
A BJP leader said he was surprised to see massive participation of people in the rally despite the ongoing harvest season.
“People knew this was not an election rally. Still, they turned up in large numbers to listen to the Union Home Minister who is leaving no stone unturned to connect with Kashmiris and repose trust in them,” he said.
The incident-free rally is also being credited to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha who planned the conduct of the mega rally in Kashmir’s one of the volatile districts near the Line of Control (LoC).
“I attended the rally as I want the resolution to our developmental problems. The Home Minister clearly explained how Kashmir-based political parties exploited the sentiments of the people since 1947. He informed us about the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring peace and prosperity to J&K,” said a participant at the rally.
During the rally, Shah praised PM Modi for taking democracy to the grassroots in J&K and bringing huge investments while replacing stones with laptops in the hands of the youth.
He also took a dig at the Muftis, Abdullahs, and Gandhis and blamed them for turning J&K into a terrorist hotspot and credited the Modi government for turning it back into a tourist hotspot.
Political observers believe that the rally was a feather in the cap of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) amid an uptick in public outreach initiatives by political parties and the floating of new parties in J&K.
“BJP must cash on the successful conduct of the Baramulla rally and pull up its socks to convert the numbers into votes in the Assembly polls. Amit Shah and Manoj Sinha have made the rally historic by reaching out to the people of far-flung areas and conveying PM’s vision for Kashmir,” they said.