Pledged his government would make a prosperous Jammu and Kashmir, stating that it was “Modi Ki Guarantee.” Pledged his government would make a prosperous Jammu and Kashmir, stating that it was “Modi Ki Guarantee.”

Today, promising a secure, peaceful and prosperous Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Assembly elections in the Union Territory are a battle between three families of the National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress, and lakhs of sons and daughters of the soil with dreams in their eyes.

Launching his campaign in J&K ahead of the upcoming three-phase Assembly polls, PM Modi, while addressing a public meeting in Doda’s Sports Stadium, held the successive NC, Congress and PDP governments responsible for the “destruction of J&K”. What their three families have done to the people of J&K were nothing less than a crime, he alleged, adding that the Assembly elections will decide the future of J&K.

Without naming the Abdullahs, Muftis and Gandhis of the NC, PDP and Congress respectively, the PM said that the parties promoting dynastic rule have misled the people and made local youth a victim of terrorism.

After Independence, J&K became a target of foreign powers and was made hollow by dynastic powers, he said. “The political powers you trusted did not care for your children, but only promoted their own children,” he said.

These are the people who did not promote new leadership in J&K, Modi said, adding it was only after the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014 that panchayat elections, Block Development Council (BDC) and District Development Council (DDC) elections were held in the Chenab Valley region.

The 2018 panchayat elections were the first one since 2000, and the BDC and DDC polls held in 2019 and 2020, respectively, were the first ever in the region.

“Why were these polls held? So that democracy reaches the grassroots and the youth come forward to take up reins of the decision-making process in J&K,” Modi said. “Those doing dynastic politics were opposed to this attempt of mine… We challenged their intentions and 30,000 to 35,000 youth entered politics after these local body elections and took the reins of J&K in their hands.”

The PM accused the NC, PDP and Congress of “creating a breeding ground for terror”. He accused these parties of “promoting terrorism to keep their shops running”, adding that “thousands of children have lost their lives for their sins”. Modi also reminded the people of the days when terror was at its peak, claiming that even the Home Minister of the then Congress government at the Centre was scared of visiting Lal Chowk in Srinagar.
However, due to the work done in J&K during the last ten years, terrorism today is taking its last breath, the PM said. A new J&K is being made out of the stones that were earlier pelted at security forces, he said.

Who has achieved this, he asked thrice, and promptly came the answer from the crowd: “Modi, Modi.’’ The PM corrected the audience, saying, “This has not been done by Modi, but the people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially Doda.”

He then turned towards Shagun Parihar, the BJP candidate in Kishtwar whose father Ajit and uncle Dalip were killed by terrorists in 2018, and said, “Daughter Shagun is not just a candidate for us, but a live example of our determination to wipe out terrorism.”

He slammed the “three families” saying they have been responsible for the destruction of J&K for decades. They promoted corruption and the land mafia, he said, adding that they made people starve for even small facilities.

Modi said that the parties who ruled J&K for years forced the people to agitate and face police lathis for even schools, colleges, small roads or water-storage tanks. Having a medical or an engineering college then was no less than a dream, he said while referring to the opening of new medical colleges, AIIMS, IIT and IIM in J&K over the past four-five years.

Claiming that only the BJP government will give statehood to J&K, Modi asked the people to be cautious of those who had been “depriving them of their rights”.
Without naming anyone, he said that these people now keep the Constitution in their pocket only to hide their past misdeeds. “Unhoney Baba Sahib ke Constitution ki atma ko noucha hai (They have torn the spirit of B R Ambedkar’s Constitution),” he alleged while referring to the denial of reservation to Scheduled Tribes and OBCs, and voting rights to refugees and the Gorkha and Valmiki communities in J&K. “Rather, they made laws that made you strangers on your own land,” he said.

He slammed the NC, Congress and PDP for opposing the BJP government’s decision to abolish triple talaq, claiming that they are not well wishers of Muslim women.

He also cautioned people against the agenda of NC, Congress and PDP in restoring Articles 370 and 35A. “If it gets implemented then there will be bloodshed again. There will be stones again in the hands of youth, as also hartals and locks on the shutters of business establishments,” he said, adding that by bringing back Articles 370 and 35A, they want to take away reservation and restrict women’s rights.

The rally in Doda assumes significance as through Modi’s campaign, the BJP plans to repeat its 2014 performance in the Chenab Valley region of the Jammu province where it had, barring Inderwal and Banihal, won four of the six Assembly seats.
However, after the 2022 delimitation, two new constituencies – Doda West and Padder-Nagseni – have been carved out of the Doda and Kishtwar districts, raising the total number of Assembly constituencies in Chenab Valley to eight. The others are Doda, Bhaderwah, Inderwal, Kishtwar, Ramban and Banihal.