The Wire Staff 
Srinagar: A day after the three-phased assembly election started in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in the summer capital Srinagar on Thursday, September 19, where he repeated the trope of “three families” being responsible for the mess in J&K while glossing over the growing unemployment in the Union territory.
Addressing a Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) rally at the fortified Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar, which will vote along with Budgam and Ganderbal districts in the second phase of the election on September 25, Modi hailed the voter turnout in the first phase of the election, saying that people have cast their ballot with an open mind.
Hailing the “festival of democracy” in Jammu and Kashmir, he said that the voting for the assembly election was organised “without the shadow of terrorism for the first time”.
“It is a matter of great happiness and pride that such a large number of people are coming out to vote. All the past records have been broken and history has been scripted by the people of J&K. It shows that the aspirations of people have reached a new high. The world is watching how people of J&K are strengthening the democracy of India,” Modi said.
A large number of people attended the rally, some of whom had to return disappointed after security officials cited the lack of capacity and did not allow them inside the stadium which can host 30,000 people at a time.
Manzoor Khan, a resident of Trehgam, who was not allowed inside the stadium, said that he reached the venue late after getting stuck in traffic. “They told us that all the seats have filled up. I was hoping to see the PM for the first time but they didn’t allow me inside. I am very sad,” he said.
“The Modi government has stopped the harassment of common people (by the army). We have a hospital in the town but there aren’t good facilities there. Besides, I have to pay Rs 1,000-1,200 as electricity fee to keep a couple of bulbs on at home,” said Ali Mohammad, a resident of Kanidajan village in Budgam district, who was waiting for PM Modi’s cavalcade outside the venue.
People heading towards the SK stadium to participate in the PM rally in Srinagar. Photo: Ubaid Mukhtar
Referring to the National Conference (NC), Congress and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Modi said that the “three families”, whom he blamed for the lack of development in J&K, were under the impression that they could disempower and loot Jammu and Kashmir’s people and its resources.
“J&K won’t always remain in the clutches of these three families. To run their political shops, they sold the wares of hatred. The fires that consumed the schools in Kashmir were sold in their markets of hatred. They didn’t make new schools – they would promote those who burnt them,” he alleged.
Regretting the closure of educational institutions during the past civilian unrests in Kashmir, Modi alleged that the three families handed stones in the hands of students for political ends during that time while accusing them of destroying the future of J&K’s youngsters.
“I won’t allow the three families to destroy another generation in J&K. Freeing J&K from terrorism, defeating the powers conspiring against J&K and giving employment opportunities to J&K’s youth is the resolve and promise of Modi. I am committed to work for the restoration of peace with full honesty.”
Huge number of people including, BJP party supporters and workers participated in PM Modi Rally in Srinagar. Photo: Ubaid Mukhtar
He added: “Our Kashmiri youngsters, who faced hindrances in their careers, are challenging them now. They have realised that the vote, a democratic right, will bring about the right change. Instead of stones, they now have pens, books and laptops in their hands.”
According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, unemployment has touched historic highs in Jammu and Kashmir, crossing more than 23% in April this year, after 2019 when the BJP-led union government bifurcated and downgraded the erstwhile state into two union territories in 2019.
Modi said that there was a time when unfurling the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar was deemed as a threat to life. “But the scene has changed now. After more than three decades, Lal Chowk remains abuzz with activities. Bollywood has returned and a record number of tourists are visiting Kashmir. This has become possible only with the help of J&K’s people,” he said.
Modi, who was on his third visit to Kashmir this year, said that his government was erasing the distance between the hearts of people of Kashmir and New Delhi. However, the BJP has struggled to find an electoral footing after taking direct control of the union territory in 2018.
Security personnel stands guard near a check point outside the SK Stadium in Srinagar.
Photo: Ubaid Mukhtar
On March 7, Modi addressed a rally at Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar which was marred by the opposition’s allegations that the government employees were forced to participate in the “political event” by the administration, which is run by the union government.
Modi also attended the International Yoga Day celebrations on the banks of Dal Lake at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre in Srinagar on June 21.
The rally at Bakshi Stadium comes a day after J&K voted to chose its lawmakers in the first assembly election in a decade which was conducted after the Supreme Court, while upholding the reading down of Article 370 in 2019 by the union government, ruled that it was time for people of J&K to elect their own government.
The historic election recorded a groundbreaking participation in the first phase in some constituencies which witnessed over 80 percent voter turnout while some constituencies in Kashmir, where elections used to be marred by boycott in the aftermath of the eruption of insurgency in 1990s, also recorded brisk polling.
Overall, 58.19% voters exercised their franchise in the first phase of the election, reflecting the wider sentiment for the popular government in J&K which has been under the central rule since 2018.
While the BJP could try to link the high participation of voters to the acceptance of the Modi-government’s Article 370 move on Jammu and Kashmir and its claims of normalcy, the opposition has alleged that the BJP was trying a new “political experiment” to form the government on its own in the country’s only Muslim majority region with the help of smaller parties and independents.
A section of the Jamaat-e-Islami outfit, which has been banned by the central government under anti-terror law and whose top leadership remains incarcerated, has fielded independent candidates or backed other candidates in the ongoing assembly election.
The firebrand Lok Sabha MP from north Kashmir, Engineer Rashid, who defeated former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah in the parliamentary election earlier this year, was also released on interim bail by a court in Delhi in time for leading his Awami Ittehad Party’s poll campaign.
The party of Rashid, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in a terror funding case, has formed an alliance with the Jamaat for the ongoing election.
Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone among NC and PDP leaders have expressed apprehensions that Rashid was a “proxy” of the BJP who could help the saffron party to keep the traditional parties out of the political picture by forming the government with his and the support of other ‘independent’ players.