M A I N   N E W S

Modi invokes Vajpayee to woo Kashmiris
Dinesh Manhotra
Tribune News Service

Hiranagar (Kathua), March 26
BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today promised to carry forward the policies of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee so as to change the “destiny” of Kashmiris.

Addressing the first rally of his “Bharat Vijay Yatra” at Hiranagar in Kathua district, he said, “The path of insaniyat (humanity), zhamuriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat (brotherhood) shown by Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be carried forward.”

Terrorism was against the concept of Kashmiriayat and “insaniyat”, he said.

Keeping in mind the fact that leaders of some Kashmir-centric main stream and separatist parties had praised the previous BJP-led NDA government for taking some bold initiatives on Kashmir, Modi said, “Had the Vajpayee-headed NDA government got another five years, all problems of Kashmir would have been solved.”

He said the BJP would fulfil the unfinished agenda of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He refrained from touching the contentious issue of Article 370 directly, but he very carefully tried to rake up the issue related to alleged “abuse” of the said article. “Why are fundamental rights being denied to West Pakistan refugees who have been living in J&K since 1947?” he said. Modi promised to solve the problems of PoK refugees and displaced Kashmiri Pandits. Without mentioning Article 370, he said, “Those belonging to the OBC and ST categories in J&K are deprived of many rights that their counterparts are enjoying in other parts of the country. I don’t know why the Congress is silent on the conditions of weaker sections in J&K.”