Indian Home Minister Amit Shah at his first rally in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday rejected talks with Pakistan, accusing it of fueling terrorism.
Speaking in Baramulla for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370, which granted special status to Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Mr Shah directed his anger at “three families who have controlled Kashmir for seventy years”. He ruled for years.”
The Indian quoted him as saying that the Election Commission will complete the process of revising the electoral rolls as soon as the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.
Addressing the rally, Mr. Shah said that “some people are giving me advice that I should talk to Pakistan, those who have been ruling here for seventy years are giving me advice”. But I say frankly, I don’t want to talk to Pakistan. I will speak to the Gujars and Paharis of Baramulla. I will talk to the youth of Kashmir. He said that Pakistan has spread terrorism here. What good has he done for Kashmir?
The rally was held in Baramulla amid multi-layered security arrangements, said.
It was attended by more than 10,000 people, most of whom belonged to areas near the Line of Control such as Tangdhar, Uri and Bandipora.
Mr Shah used a large part of his 25-minute speech to criticize “the three dynasties that have ruled Kashmir for 70 years”. While BJP leaders have often targeted the families of Abdullah and Muftis, this was the first time Shah brought the Gandhis into his line of attack.
I saw a tweet of Mehbooba (Mufti). He had said that the home minister should go back only after giving an account of what he has given to Kashmir,” Mr Shah said. “Mahbooba ji, listen with ears and eyes, what we have done. I will give an account of it, but what you and Farooq (Abdullah) have done, you should give an account later.
“I have come here to ask you, Mehbooba and Farooq Sahib, tell us how much investment has come in Kashmir in 70 years, how many industries have been set up, how many factories have opened and how many youths have been given employment.”
“In 70 years only 15,000 crore (Rs) has been invested. In three years, (Prime Minister) Modi ji invested 56,000 crore.
The home minister said the Modi government’s “success” was to take democracy to the grassroots level in Jammu and Kashmir. “Earlier democracy was limited to only 87 legislators, six parliamentarians and three families – the Mufti family, the Abdullah family and the Gandhi family,” he claimed. “We have taken it to villages, 30,000 panchas and sarpanches (local bodies).”
Mr. Shah said that since 1990, 42,000 people have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir due to terrorism. “Who is responsible for the death of these 42,000 people? Three families, who ruled Kashmir for 70 years, are responsible. “You know the hardest thing to do is shoulder the coffin of your son. But 42 thousand people have been killed here. Has the son of a leader ever been killed?
We want the fear of secession from Kashmir to end, terrorism to end and Kashmir to become India’s paradise.
He said that Kashmir was earlier a “terror hotbed”, but has now become a “tourism hotspot” under the BJP government.
