Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday invoked Atal Bihari Vajpayee's concepts of communal harmony, humanity and democracy to share the pain of Kashmiris and promised to take the state to new heights of development.
"The people of Kashmir have given me a lot of trust and love. I will repay this love and trust with interest in the form of development. I can die for this love and trust showered on me," he said in his first election meeting in Srinagar that avoided any mention of controversial issues like abrogation of Article 370.
In his 30 minutes speech, Modi used the opportunity to attack the "all pervasive" corruption under successive governments of the "Congress, father-son and father-daughter" in the last 30 years and asked the people to give him "one chance" to bring development.
Wearing a traditional Kashmiri pheran (a Kashmiri outfit), Modi sought to strike a chord with the people saying, "I as the pradhan sevak have come to share your pain and anguish. Your sorrow is my sorrow, your pain is my pain, your problem is my problem. I have not come to take anything.”
"People in the army and police have died so have the innocent youths. Their loss is irreparable and no one can compensate for it but sharing can reduce the pain."
Invoking Vajpayee's famous 2003 speech at the same venue, Modi said, "Vajpayee made a good beginning. I have come to carry this forward. It is my duty to carry forward and fulfill his dreams of insaniyat, Kashmiriyat and jamhooriyat (democracy) which are the three pillars that can turn around Kashmir in the 21st century on the path of development."
Before his rally in Srinagar, Modi visited the army headquarters in Srinagar and paid tributes to the soldiers killed in Friday's deadly militant attack in Uri. He visited the army's Badami Bagh headquarters and laid floral wreath at the war memorial as a tribute to the eight soldiers.
Paying a tribute to the army personnel who laid down their lives in the recent terror attack, Modi said, "Army jawans have laid down their lives for your democracy. Their martyrdom will not go in waste. It should not go in vain."
Addressing the election rally earlier in the day at Vijaypur in Samba district, his fourth in Jammu and Kashmir, Modi praised the high voter turn out of over 70 per cent in the state and said the people had shown to the world the power of ballot.
Despite the winter conditions, "people of J&K have polled 70 to 71 per cent votes and scripted history. I praise the people of J&K for this," he said.
"You have exercised the right of franchise and shown faith in democracy. Those people who were suppressing you with bullets, you have defeated the bullets by use of ballots," he said.
"The finger that presses the trigger of AK-47 takes lives and kill people, but the finger that presses EVM changes the destiny of the country," Modi said.
He said the entire country is proud of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. "The way you (people of J&K) have defeated the bullets the people of entire country are proud of you. Everybody in the country is praising you. It is a lesson for those people who despite living in an environment of peace, love and family comfort, do not come out to vote."
"Your power is more than those holding AK-47 rifle so I have come here to request you to form majority the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state and stamp out the dynastic rule of the two families. I assure you that I will repay with interest what you have given to me by undertaking development of the state", the PM said.
Terming the Peoples Democratic Party, National Conference and Congress as beneficiaries of politics of opportunism, Modi alleged that they have neglected the J&K for decades together. "They should be rejected by the people of J&K," he said.
Hitting out at the Congress for enjoying power with both the PDP and NC in coalition, the prime minister said that the Congress sits into the lap of the PDP and NC for power and then criticises them during elections.
Stating that the BJP wants to start a new era of politics-- the politics of development --in the state, he invoked the party's slogan of ‘Sab ka sath, sab ka vikas.’ He said that politics of opportunism must end to undertake development of the state. "For this we have to get rid of dynastic rule of these families and form a government of the BJP with majority in the state,” he added.
Modi said that people should vote to form a majority government rather than "3-legged or four-headed" government.
Referring to the issue of refugees of Pakistan occupied Kashmir and other displaced people in Jammu and Kashmir, Modi said that it is the country's responsibility to rehabilitate them and give them full rights. Promising to mitigate the problems of 12 lakh displaced people in the state, he said that for 60 years they have not been given their rights.
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