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Journalism of Courage
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing a joint rally of PDP and BJP workers, this will be Modi’s fourth visit to Kashmir in the last 14 months. Every time, Modi came to Kashmir, state government and people, especially traders and flood affected families expected a generous package from him, but Modi left them disillusioned and the state government red faced.
For last one week, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed along with the BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav are working overtime to make PM’s rally a grand show.
This time also, the chief minister is expecting a generous financial assistance for rehabilitation of the flood-hit people and reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure. There is also a buzz about PM offering talks with separatists and an olive branch to neighboring Pakistan. The government and its top ministers have already started terming the visit as a historic event.
For chief minister Mufti and his PDP, a generous economic package will be a political breather, as joining hands with the BJP has not gone down well in his core constituency Kashmir and Muslim belts of the Jammu region. And to keep PM in good humor, Mufti has been praising Modi and the RSS at almost every public gathering that he attended in the recent days.
Opposition has already started accusing Mufti of using government machinery and J&K police to ensure good attendance at the rally. To ensure peace on the day, PM will be in Kashmir the government has already detained top separatist leadership and their hundreds of supporters who were planning to take out a parallel “Million March” on the same day at TRC ground, only few hundred meters away where PM will be addressing.
The social networking sites that were used to propagate messages about “Million March’’ were either blocked or users threatened by the sleuths. With three tier security, Srinagar has been turned into a security fortress as all the major roads leading towards the venue have been sealed with concentra wires.
The government is also planning to impose restrictions at some areas where separatist enjoy a good support and are planning to close the national highway for few hours even in Jammu region where Prime Minister Modi has to inaugurate a power house.
From the rally, the PM’s political message will be an important factor to shape the destiny of the future events in Jammu and Kashmir.
