JAMMU: Union home minister Amit Shah cautioned Thursday that electing candidates from the NC-Congress alliance and PDP in the ongoing J&K assembly elections would play into Pakistan’s hands. “If they get elected, Pakistan will celebrate,” he said, addressing a BJP campaign rally at Chenani in Udhampur district for the third and final phase of polling on Oct 1.
Alleging that the three “dynastic” parties are responsible for 40 years of terrorism in J&K, during which he said 40,000 people were killed and 3,000 days were lost to bandhs and curfews.
Shah said PM Narendra Modi’s government has brought down terrorism-related violence, but NC and PDP seek to revive it. “Whatever be your wish, terrorism will be eradicated forever from Kashmir. I want to tell (NC vice president) Omar Abdullah that despite his desire, we will bury terrorism deep down under the earth and it will never come back,” he said. “There is only one symbol to eradicate terrorism. That symbol is lotus.”
These are the first assembly elections in a decade in J&K and since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 and the subsequent bifurcation of the region into two Union territories, including Ladakh. “In the first two phases, NC-Congress has been completely wiped out. On October 8, a strong BJP government will be formed under the leadership of Modiji,” Shah said.
The Union minister said the Modi government had fulfilled the dream of BJP patriarch Syama Prasad Mookerjee by removing Article 370, in line with the latter’s famous slogan: “Ek desh mein do vidhan, do pradhan, aur do nishan nahi chalenge (There cannot be two constitutions, two PMs, and two flags in one nation)”.
On reversing J&K’s status from UT to state, Shah reaffirmed: “I had said in Parliament that after the elections, we will restore J&K’s statehood. Modiji also said this. Only Parliament can give J&K statehood, and Modiji is the leader of Parliament.”
Shah also responded to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on restoring Article 370. “I tell Rahul baba, even if his three generations fight for it, Article 370 will not come back. Rahul baba, it is because of Jawaharlal Nehru’s mistake that today PoK is with Pakistan,” he said.
Referring to Gandhi’s recent jibe at lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, whom he described as “king”, Shah said: “Rahul baba is saying outsiders are governing J&K. Those guiding him might not be well-versed with history because the longest tenure of central rule in the region had happened during the tenure of his grandmother (Indira Gandhi) and father (Rajiv Gandhi).”
Shah accused NC chief Farooq Abdullah of allowing terrorism to flourish during his tenure as CM. “They kept terrorism alive, cinemas were closed, and when Farooq Abdullah was CM, terrorism grew. Instead of fighting it, he left Srinagar for holidays in London,” he said.
He criticised Farooq Abdullah’s remarks about the Army’s presence in J&K, asserting that the people would respond to the former CM, who had described soldiers as “accomplices of terrorists”.
The Union minister referenced Omar Abdullah’s earlier comments about the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, asking: “Phir kya, usko biryani khilani thi? (Then what, should we have served him biryani instead?).” He also took aim at NC’s promise to release youth from jails, accusing them of wanting to free “terrorists and stone-throwers” and assuring that strong laws would prevent this.
Shah accused the three political “dynasties” of holding democracy hostage for 70 years. He lauded BJP for bringing grassroots democracy through panchayat, block development council (BDC), and district development council (DDC) elections in J&K. “These three families gave you 87 MLAs, we gave you 40,000 elected representatives through panchayat, BDC, and DDC elections,” he said.
Shah also celebrated recent events in Kashmir, saying that while “it was once a struggle to hoist the Indian flag in Lal Chowk, every house in Srinagar has a Tricolour now”. He added that after 40 years, “Muharram and Janmasthami were celebrated in Srinagar”.
Shah also addressed rallies in Udhampur, Bani, Jasrota, and Madh during the day. The final phase of elections will cover 40 assembly seats in seven districts — Jammu, Udhampur, Samba, and Kathua in the southern parts of the UT and Kupwara, Baramulla, and Bandipora in north Kashmir. Votes will be counted on October 8.