mehboobkz
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PM does a ctrl+alt+del on Pak hyphen
Srinagar, Dec. 8: Between Kutch and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi found a tool to poke Pakistan with pointed indifference at his first and only election outing in the Valley this afternoon.
"When I went to Kutch, also a Muslim-majority area, after the devastating earthquake, everybody there complained leaders only talk about Pakistan because it lies just across the border," Modi told a moderate and mostly bussed-in crowd at the Sher-i-Kashmir cricket stadium.
"The people of Kutch wanted me to talk about them. That's what I did and that's a lesson I have never forgotten. I am not here to talk about Pakistan, I won't talk about Pakistan, I am here to talk about you, your pain, your grief, your development. Development is my only mantra."
In effect, he made a message of it to Pakistan by saying he had no message for them - Pakistan may seek to matter in Kashmir, Modi made out he would take no overt notice of it. "I said what I had to say when I met regional leaders at the Saarc summit in Nepal recently, I said if fight we must we should together fight poverty and unemployment, that is the fight to fight."
Modi ascended the panoramic stage boldly embossed with the BJP's "Mission 44+" message in a dun pheran, the loose Kashmiri long coat, and almost demanded a majority of the audience.
"Be rid of people who have robbed you and feathered their nests, be rid of the Congress, be rid of the baap-beta (Abdullah family) sarkar, be rid of the baap-beti (Mufti family) sarkar. Liberate yourselves from them, embrace me, give me a majority and see how I change your fortunes."
The Prime Minister began on a false note, though, with a boastful lapse claiming he was the first to be holding a public meeting at the Sher-i-Kashmir arena since 1983. Two of Modi's predecessors have addressed crowds here since: Manmohan Singh in 2004, and a year earlier, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who made the stadium the stage for his famous "insaaniyat" speech to Kashmiris.
Modi did recall Vajpayee and his " insaaniyat" overture, but was wrongly informed on its provenance. "Atal Bihari Vajpayee had come here talking of insaaniyat, Kashmiriyat andjamhooriyat, I have come to take that dream of his further and make it a reality," Modi promised.
"Many of our army jawans and policemen have been martyred in the defence of the nation in Kashmir, I salute them. But I also know that many of you have suffered tragedy too, I am here to share your pain. It is tough to put your grief in words, but grief shared becomes lighter."
He felt encouraged by the gentle ripple of applause to resort to a bout of bragging. "It is thekamaal (magic) of Modi's government that the army has been made to admit its mistake for killing two innocent youths recently, proceedings have been started against the guilty. It is for the first time such a thing has happened, but that is the kamaal Modi is capable of, such is the commitment to justice I bring, give me a majority and then you shall see the difference. I shall change your destiny."
It was a sunless, mist-ridden day; around the stadium stretched a security freeze that had driven most of the town indoors. As many jawans had been pressed in concentric vigil formations as sat listening to the Prime Minister inside the arena. A top police officer said backstage that last Friday's multiple terror strikes had warranted the mounting of overbearing "no-risk" arrangements.
The audience, the majority from the Valley's rural hinterland, had been frisked and conducted into the ground several hours ahead of the Prime Minister's arrival. They heard mostly what they came expecting to hear - an exhort to new beginnings focused on development.
"Some of you might wonder why I come here so often, every month since I became Prime Minister," Modi said. "It is not because of elections, it is because I feel for Kashmir. I have not come here to take anything away, I have come to offer you a better future. I feel for how you have suffered for decades, the losses you faced because of the floods."
Modi then flayed chief minister Omar Abdullah's government for "sleeping" while the flood struck and said: "It is I who came to your aid, I who spent Diwali listening to your needs, I will keep coming, Kashmir is close to my heart." He pushed his taunt at Omar deeper, claiming the flood-affected have told him not to send aid through the state government: "They said send money directly into our accounts, the people of Kashmir don't trust their chief minister, the man they trust is Modi."
He likened Kashmir's place in Indian consciousness to the Badrinath-Kedarnath pilgrimage, and said: "Not just Indians but the whole world wants to come here, tourism is the world's most profitable industry, if things remain normal here, prosperity will reign, no Kashmiri will have to go out to seek livelihood.
"My dream is to take Kashmir to high peaks of development and prosperity. There is no better showcase for India than Kashmir. If Kutch can become the fastest growing region of India, why not Kashmir, which is so richly endowed?"
If the Kashmiri electorate was waiting to hear what the Prime Minister would say on the future of Article 370, it waited in vain. The BJP has long stood for the abrogation of the provision but the party's Valley candidates have vociferously opposed any tinkering. Hina Bhatt, the BJP nominee from Amirakadal in downtown Srinagar, had famously threatened to "pick up the gun" if there was any move to undo Article 370.
In the Valley, the provision is considered a critical constitutional and emotional guarantee of special status; and a certificate of political credibility, no less. Since it acquired an ambition to expand its footprint into the Valley, the BJP's "Mission 44+" campaign has fallen conspicuously silent on the matter. Modi played loyally to that meditated silence, if only in deference to those that flanked him on stage - more than a dozen BJP candidates whose fortunes will be tested in the next two rounds of voting in the Valley.
The rally closed with Modi holding their hands aloft on stage; unlike the Samba rally he addressed down in the Jammu region this morning, there was no " Jai Bharat Mata ki!" cry to close proceedings, not even a Jai Hind. " Bahut bahut dhanyavaad" is what Modi said to end his first and last effort in Kashmir this campaign, "Thank you very very much."
Srinagar, Dec. 8: Between Kutch and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi found a tool to poke Pakistan with pointed indifference at his first and only election outing in the Valley this afternoon.
"When I went to Kutch, also a Muslim-majority area, after the devastating earthquake, everybody there complained leaders only talk about Pakistan because it lies just across the border," Modi told a moderate and mostly bussed-in crowd at the Sher-i-Kashmir cricket stadium.
"The people of Kutch wanted me to talk about them. That's what I did and that's a lesson I have never forgotten. I am not here to talk about Pakistan, I won't talk about Pakistan, I am here to talk about you, your pain, your grief, your development. Development is my only mantra."
In effect, he made a message of it to Pakistan by saying he had no message for them - Pakistan may seek to matter in Kashmir, Modi made out he would take no overt notice of it. "I said what I had to say when I met regional leaders at the Saarc summit in Nepal recently, I said if fight we must we should together fight poverty and unemployment, that is the fight to fight."
Modi ascended the panoramic stage boldly embossed with the BJP's "Mission 44+" message in a dun pheran, the loose Kashmiri long coat, and almost demanded a majority of the audience.
"Be rid of people who have robbed you and feathered their nests, be rid of the Congress, be rid of the baap-beta (Abdullah family) sarkar, be rid of the baap-beti (Mufti family) sarkar. Liberate yourselves from them, embrace me, give me a majority and see how I change your fortunes."
The Prime Minister began on a false note, though, with a boastful lapse claiming he was the first to be holding a public meeting at the Sher-i-Kashmir arena since 1983. Two of Modi's predecessors have addressed crowds here since: Manmohan Singh in 2004, and a year earlier, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who made the stadium the stage for his famous "insaaniyat" speech to Kashmiris.
Modi did recall Vajpayee and his " insaaniyat" overture, but was wrongly informed on its provenance. "Atal Bihari Vajpayee had come here talking of insaaniyat, Kashmiriyat andjamhooriyat, I have come to take that dream of his further and make it a reality," Modi promised.
"Many of our army jawans and policemen have been martyred in the defence of the nation in Kashmir, I salute them. But I also know that many of you have suffered tragedy too, I am here to share your pain. It is tough to put your grief in words, but grief shared becomes lighter."
He felt encouraged by the gentle ripple of applause to resort to a bout of bragging. "It is thekamaal (magic) of Modi's government that the army has been made to admit its mistake for killing two innocent youths recently, proceedings have been started against the guilty. It is for the first time such a thing has happened, but that is the kamaal Modi is capable of, such is the commitment to justice I bring, give me a majority and then you shall see the difference. I shall change your destiny."
It was a sunless, mist-ridden day; around the stadium stretched a security freeze that had driven most of the town indoors. As many jawans had been pressed in concentric vigil formations as sat listening to the Prime Minister inside the arena. A top police officer said backstage that last Friday's multiple terror strikes had warranted the mounting of overbearing "no-risk" arrangements.
The audience, the majority from the Valley's rural hinterland, had been frisked and conducted into the ground several hours ahead of the Prime Minister's arrival. They heard mostly what they came expecting to hear - an exhort to new beginnings focused on development.
"Some of you might wonder why I come here so often, every month since I became Prime Minister," Modi said. "It is not because of elections, it is because I feel for Kashmir. I have not come here to take anything away, I have come to offer you a better future. I feel for how you have suffered for decades, the losses you faced because of the floods."
Modi then flayed chief minister Omar Abdullah's government for "sleeping" while the flood struck and said: "It is I who came to your aid, I who spent Diwali listening to your needs, I will keep coming, Kashmir is close to my heart." He pushed his taunt at Omar deeper, claiming the flood-affected have told him not to send aid through the state government: "They said send money directly into our accounts, the people of Kashmir don't trust their chief minister, the man they trust is Modi."
He likened Kashmir's place in Indian consciousness to the Badrinath-Kedarnath pilgrimage, and said: "Not just Indians but the whole world wants to come here, tourism is the world's most profitable industry, if things remain normal here, prosperity will reign, no Kashmiri will have to go out to seek livelihood.
"My dream is to take Kashmir to high peaks of development and prosperity. There is no better showcase for India than Kashmir. If Kutch can become the fastest growing region of India, why not Kashmir, which is so richly endowed?"
If the Kashmiri electorate was waiting to hear what the Prime Minister would say on the future of Article 370, it waited in vain. The BJP has long stood for the abrogation of the provision but the party's Valley candidates have vociferously opposed any tinkering. Hina Bhatt, the BJP nominee from Amirakadal in downtown Srinagar, had famously threatened to "pick up the gun" if there was any move to undo Article 370.
In the Valley, the provision is considered a critical constitutional and emotional guarantee of special status; and a certificate of political credibility, no less. Since it acquired an ambition to expand its footprint into the Valley, the BJP's "Mission 44+" campaign has fallen conspicuously silent on the matter. Modi played loyally to that meditated silence, if only in deference to those that flanked him on stage - more than a dozen BJP candidates whose fortunes will be tested in the next two rounds of voting in the Valley.
The rally closed with Modi holding their hands aloft on stage; unlike the Samba rally he addressed down in the Jammu region this morning, there was no " Jai Bharat Mata ki!" cry to close proceedings, not even a Jai Hind. " Bahut bahut dhanyavaad" is what Modi said to end his first and last effort in Kashmir this campaign, "Thank you very very much."
