JAMMU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi freed Jammu and Kashmir from the clutches of Article 370, terrorism and separatism which is the biggest achievement of the BJP-led government, Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday said. Thakur made this assertion as he joined BJP candidate Jugal Kishore, who submitted his nomination papers from the Jammu Lok Sabha seat after a massive road show here. He said Prime Minister Modi-led government provided new wings of development to Jammu and Kashmir over the past 10 years besides showing that it cannot stay silent on Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks like the previous regime by conducting surgical strikes across the border. “Someone travelling with me asked what Jammu and Kashmir has got under Modi? Jammu and Kashmir got freedom from Article 370, stone-pelting, terrorism and separatism while developmental activities got new wings,” the Information and Broadcasting minister said addressing a public gathering after the road show along Residency Road here. Talking to reporters later after his public address, Thakur said that Jammu and Kashmir recorded a decline of 75 per cent in terror attacks, 81 per cent in killing of civilians and 50 per cent drop in security personnel casualties under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership. “It all became possible when there was a strong government at the Centre,” he said, asking people to vote for BJP candidates – Kishore – and Union Minister Jitendra Singh (Udhampur parliamentary constituency) – for the third term. Amid chants of ‘Ab ki baar 400 paar’ and slogans in favour of Prime Minister Modi and the BJP, Thakur later accompanied Kishore to the office of the returning officer for the Jammu Lok Sabha seat where the latter filed his nomination papers. Kishore had won the Jammu Lok Sabha seat in 2014 and 2019 general elections but this time the parliamentary elections are happening for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir after the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two union territories and its special status under Article 370 revoked in August 2019. In 2019, Kishore defeated Congress candidate Raman Bhalla by a margin of 3,02,875 votes. He defeated Congress candidate Madan Lal Sharma by over 2.57 lakh votes in 2014. Thakur said the Modi government is “strongly behind the security forces which is evident when there was attacks on our forces”. “The previous government would have done nothing but our government went across and carried out the surgical strikes to pin them down there,” he said, referring to the surgical strikes in response to the killing of 18 soldiers in the Uri terror attack in September 2016 and aerial strikes by the IAF deep inside Pakistan following a terror attack on a CRPF convoy that killed 40 jawans in February 2019. The minister said the Centre ensured flowing of ‘Vikas ki Ganga’ across Jammu and Kashmir where the work on the railway line and new highways is going on very fast besides setting up of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and various other prestigious institutes like the IIM and IIT, new projects which will ensure massive employment generation and large scale investment which is in the pipeline. Earlier, he said the travel between Jammu and Srinagar used to consume 15 hours but now the travel time has reduced to four to five hours, while the world highest Railway bridge ‘Chenab bridge’ along Udhampur-Baramulla-Srinagar Railway Line (USBRL) has been completed as the country is inching closer to connect Kashmir with Kanyakumari through railway network. The Katra-Delhi expressway, which was never thought of by the Congress over the past six decades of its rule, is being built to facilitate the Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims, he said, highlighting various achievements of the government in space and other fields over the past 10 years. Thakur said when Prime Minister Modi took over in 2014, the country’s economy was in shambles but his hard work ensured India’s economy jumping to the fifth spot in the globe and the BJP government is eyeing to take it further up and to the third position during the next five years. “During India’s G20 presidency, Modi made a push for a new economic corridor which will connect India with Europe. This will also facilitate goods from Jammu to reach Europe,” he said. Targeting the Congress, the minister said big scams like 2G and fodder scam came to light before 2014 but after Modi took over, he showed how a clean government is run with the same officials. Meanwhile, Kishore while asking people to extend their support to him said the country, including Jammu and Kashmir, is “moving fast on the development path” under Prime Minister Modi. “Modi restored honour of the country, took historic decisions which were pending for decades,” he added. The Jammu Lok Sabha constituency is going to polls in the second phase on April 26. The last date to file the nominations is April 4 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 8. Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina and other senior party leaders, including former ministers and legislators, also attended the road show and then addressed the public meeting, seeking vote for Kishore.
