Polls in J&K without fear of terrorism: PM

Udhampur (J&K): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the upcoming Lok Sabha election will take place in Jammu and Kashmir without the fear of terrorism, strikes, stone-pelting and cross-border firing, indicating that the "poll-boycott" campaigns run by the separatists in the last three decades are history now.

Addressing a poll rally in Udhampur, Modi said he has fulfilled his promise of putting an end to the long sufferings of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and challenged the Congress and other opposition parties to bring back Article 370 of the Constitution, which was revoked by the BJP-led Centre in August 2019. The rally was organised at the Modi ground along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in support of Union minister Jitendra Singh, who is vying a hat-trick of poll victories from the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat. Udhampur goes to polls on April 19.

The Congress has fielded Choudhary Lal Singh and Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) has nominated G M Saroori from the seat. "I have been coming to Jammu and Kashmir for the last five decades. I remember the Ekta Yatra in 1992 to unfurl the tricolour at the Lal Chowk (in Srinagar). We received a grand welcome. In 2014, after offering prayers at the Vaishno Devi temple, I addressed a gathering at this very venue and gave a guarantee of freeing the people who have suffered for generations (due to terrorism)," the prime minister said. He added that with people's blessings, he has fulfilled that guarantee.

"After decades, this election is taking place without the fear of terrorism, separatism, stone-pelting, strikes and cross-border terrorism, which are no more election issues. There used to be a concern regarding the security of the Vaishno Devi and Amarnath pilgrimages, but the situation has changed altogether. Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing development and the people's faith in the government is getting strengthened," Modi said.

After Pakistan-sponsored terrorism reared its head in the 1990s, the separatists led by the Hurriyat Conference used to run poll-boycott campaigns in Jammu and Kashmir.

The upcoming Lok Sabha polls will be the first election in the region after the abrogation of Article 370 and there is neither such a campaign nor stone-pelting this time around.