Amidst his usual tight schedule, Prime Minister Modi found time to come to the State and inaugurate the prestigious over 9 kilometers long Chenani-Nasheri tunnel in presence of a galaxy of civil and military VVIPs and a huge crowd of jubilant citizens of Udhampur and its surrounding areas. Approbating the engineers, workers, labourers, contractors and the managers for their great concerted effort over a period of five long years of dedicated work during which they encountered many obstructions and challenges, the Prime Minister said this was the fate line that connected Jammu with Kashmir round the year without fear of landslides forcing closure of the National Highway for days at end. The shortening of distance by 31 kilometers would result in lessening the period of journey by two to three hours and saving of fuel will be in lakhs per day.
In his inaugural speech, the Prime Minister reiterated that his Government was committed to all round development of all the three regions of the State so as to make it one of the most prosperous States in the country. Connectivity was of immense importance to the State as it is a hilly State and as such nine tunnels would be coming up in due course of time that will give a new geography and history to the State. Its isolation will go away once for all.
Turning to the situation of unrest in the valley, Prime Minister made very clear and threadbare statement that makes Centre’s Kashmir policy transparent. Stating that some Kashmiri youth had begun using stone for pelting on security forces, he said others in Kashmir were cutting the same stones for use in development of infrastructure in the State. Forty years of violence in the State had cost precious lives of innocent people. What was the gain out of this bloodshed which has been sponsored from across the border to mislead and misguide the Kashmiri youth. Kashmir needed development not stones.
In his direct address to the youth of Kashmir, Modi said that the stone pelting youth must answer the question whether they want terrorism or tourism? This State has enormous potential for developing tourism. If forty years had not been wasted in spreading valence and disruption, the State of Jammu and Kashmir would have become a world class tourism destination. What Modi conveyed to the youth of Kashmir, is a message which only a sincere friend, a well wisher and a sympathizer would say. It is time that the youth in Kashmir open their eyes and make comparison with what developmental plans and projects are on the anvil on our side of Kashmir and what is the condition of the people on the other side. The new strategy which Pakistani terrorist have devised is to use the social media to indoctrinate the youth of Kashmir. Their media tries to whip up communal passion and disseminate falsehood and canard to confuse Kashmiris. It is for the Kashmiris to decide which path they will choose that can lead them to prosperity and freedom- terrorism or tourism.
It has to be noted that contrary to expectations of Kashmir observers the Prime Minister did not say anything about dialogue with the seditionists and traitors. This has been his policy from the very first day when unrest was spread by seditionists in summer last. Let us recall that the seditionists and separatists had declined to meet with All Party Delegation that visited Kashmir in August last. That closed the doors of dialogue with them and it was of their choosing. In the same vein, the Prime Minister did not go beyond repeating the words of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in regard to Kashmir policy. He said he was committed to Kashmiriyat, jamhooriyat and insaniyat. He explicitly meant that to his Government Kashmiriyat meant Kashmir’s traditions of Sufism and Reshiism. He also said that jamhooriyat or democracy was what Indian constitution gave to the people of the State. Surprisingly, Prime Minister did not make any emphatic or direct reference to the adversary across the border that was fomenting trouble in Kashmir and misleading the youth. He thought it fit to let the youth themselves ruminate over what they are doing.
By and large, the Government of Narendra Modi is not buying the argument of unconditional talks with any party. It is not having any cut and dried formula on the table to offer to the separatists. The entire movement of unrest and turmoil in Kashmir in post-Burhan killing is manipulated by external agents who are now trying to find justification for misusing social media. The separatists have been making loud noise that Kashmir is a political issue and has to be solved through political instrument. In fact this slogan was popularized by the Congress Government and no less a man that Chidambaram, the Foreign and External Affairs Minister under Congress lately repeated the tantrum. Modi has chaffed the entire idea and did not speak a word about it in his speech.
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