PDP rally during Rajnath Singh’s visit to J&K put off

Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi.

A public rally that the PDP was planning to organise on Sunday at Srinagar’s Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium, where visiting Home Minister Rajnath Singh was expected to address the people along with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, has been put on hold, according to sources. This rally had become a talking point in Kashmir with even senior politicians speculating about its intent. In fact, former chief minister and NC leader Omar Abdullah tweeted early on Wednesday that “Srinagar is abuzz with talk that @jkpdp has organised a mega public meeting for Rajnath Singh so he can announce Central Govt support to 35A”.

Sources in PDP told The Indian Express that Singh wanted to address a public rally in Srinagar and they had started to make the arrangements. “We were given an impression that the Home Minister will start the outreach. After the Independence Day speech by the Prime Minister, where he talked about embracing Kashmiris, there was this expectation that the Centre will announce a dialogue process,’’ a source said. “I think that didn’t materialise. We were told this evening that we should halt our work (to organise the rally).”

A senior PDP leader said the entire party was working to make this rally a success. “These are very difficult days but we had made elaborate plans to arrange at least 15,000 people at the stadium to listen to the Home Minister. We expected that he will say something concrete. That hasn’t happened.”
Singh will visit J&K from September 9 to 11 to engage with various stakeholders and review security.