SRINAGAR: How much does the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi cost Kashmir? Over and above the security beef-up, sanitization drives, security beef-up and the uncalculated investment that has gone into massive publicity, what does it cost the ordinary Kashmiri?
In the wee hours of the morning of March 7, hours before Modi embarked on his first visit since his BJP-led government stripped the disputed area of its special status as a semi-autonomous region in 2019, Jammu and Kashmir state employees were being herded into vehicles at different destinations to be brought to the main venue of Modi’s rally at Bakshi Stadium in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital of Srinagar.
Ahead of the visit, thousands of troopers, including local police and paramilitary forces, were deployed in Srinagar, security was beefed up and frisking checkpoints erupted at several places in the city, especially the Civil Lines area. Several people were also rounded up and detained.
Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) announced the postponement of Class X board examination papers slated for March 7 to avoid inconvenience to the students, a report in the Telegraph said.
About 7,000 government employees, teachers and J&K Bank staffers were ordered to attend the rally or face consequences. A report in the Hindu said that 13 departments including Education, National Rural Livelihood Mission, Agriculture, Rural Development Department, Handicrafts, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Integrated Child Development Services, Directorate of Youth Services & Sports, Nehru Yuva Kendra, J&K Khadi and Village Industries Board, Social Welfare, and Jal Shakti.
Following the diktats, early this morning before the crack of dawn, hordes of employees assembled at the different designated spots, where fleets of buses including those from private schools were deployed to ferry them to the destination of the venue.
Tweeting about this early morning exercise on X, former chief minister and PDP president, Mehbooba Mufti wrote, “Government employees are being herded at five am in sub-zero temperatures into vehicles at Budgam bus stand ferrying them to the PM’s rally. Disheartening to see employees being forcibly mobilised to paint a pretty picture that all is well post 2019 & that people here are celebrating their own collective disempowerment & humiliation.”
Posting a video of employees being bundled into buses and vehicles at Budgam Bus Stand, she further tweeted, “Stands contrary to earlier visits by previous PMs like Vajpayee ji & Dr Manmohan Singh ji at the peak of insurgency. Common people then thronged to the venues with great enthusiasm & returned with hope in their hearts. But this time Kashmiris know that everything spoken at Bakshi stadium will be to showcase the so-called benefits of illegal abrogation of Article 370 akin to putting salt to their wounds.”
“This visit is only meant to address & drum support amongst BJPs core constituency in the rest of India for the upcoming parliament elections,” she further added.
Jammu Kashmir National Conference leader and former Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, also took to X. He sharing a redacted document purportedly listing government employees who are being compelled to gather as early as 4:30 am in freezing temperatures to be transported to the rally venue by buses. He alleged that the employees have been threatened of consequences if they failed to show up.
“Tomorrow the godi media & agencies will be gushing about the “historic crowd” gathered to hear PM Modi in Srinagar. What they will conveniently forget to mention is that almost none of the people there will be attending of their own free will. The dictatorial J&K Govt has pulled out all stops to give the PM a crowd because the BJP can’t manage anything in J&K without the administration,” Abdullah said.
“Employees, men & women both, in their 1000s are being asked to assemble between 4:30 AM & 5:30 AM in the freezing temperatures to be bused to the venue. This participation isn’t optional, it’s compulsory. Employees who don’t show up are been threatened with disciplinary action by their Dept heads,” he said.
Abdullah also claimed that several private schools have been directed to provide their buses for transporting the employees for the rally.
“Private schools like DPS Etc have had their buses commandeered to transport all these employees to the venue. I have lists running in to the 1000s with department details, addresses & mobile numbers plus transport details. I’ve redacted a portion of one page out of 140 pages. This is the naya J&K but like I said godi media won’t report this. They prefer “three families”, “new era of development” yada yada,” he added.
Sharing his tweet, Congress spokesperson Salman Soz wrote, “Dear PM, welcome to Kashmir. But what J&K’s former Chief Minister is saying is pretty much what is going to make your visit a “success”. Perhaps, this model of event management suits you. But your short-term personal success comes at a huge cost to the country.”
The Hindu had earlier reported that a massive security clearance initiative has been launched to carry out the background check of these government employees attending the PM’s rally.
The report quoted an anonymous employee as saying, “Security agencies even sought details of spouses and family members and asked if they had any links with militants.”
Modi’s rally in Srinagar, his first since abrogation of Article 370, is being seen as significant ahead of the parliamentary elections, even though officials say his visit is related to inaugurating and announcing a slew of development projects. Kashmir narrative has often played a pivotal role for the BJP in the general elections.
Modi and his government are doubling-up efforts to project Kashmir as normal and peaceful since Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of its autonomy, dismembered and demoted. On a recent visit to Jammu, the prime minister batted for Bollywood film ‘Article 370’, that is said to be a propaganda film to suit BJP’s political interests. Observers see the visit as part of the same project.
The allegations of herding of employees and forcibly bringing them to the venue neatly fits into this theory.
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