Modi’s J&K outreach

PRIME Minister Narendra Modi has gifted Jammu & Kashmir the Z-Morh tunnel, which will make the tourist resort of Sonamarg accessible throughout the year. Last week, the PM virtually inaugurated the Jammu railway division, and he is expected to flag off the Delhi-Srinagar Vande Bharat train on Republic Day. So far so good. The BJP-led Centre is going all out to boost J&K’s economy and reduce ‘Dilli se duri’, but what about its promise to restore statehood? It’s been three months since the Assembly elections were held — after a decade-long gap — and the NC-Congress alliance formed the government. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah keeps raising the all-important demand — he did so in the PM’s presence on Monday too — but he has refrained from exerting pressure on the Centre to set a timeline.

Modi has tried to reassure Omar and the people of J&K that “right things will happen at the right time”. The PM has claimed that he always keeps his promises — and the CM has been quick to vouch for that, praising him effusively for keeping his word on holding the Assembly elections. Curiously, in his speech at a poll rally in Srinagar last year, the PM had asserted that the BJP would fulfil the commitment of restoring statehood; however, in his address after the tunnel inauguration, he took a circuitous route to talk about the matter. This should have perturbed Omar, but it apparently didn’t.

The CM has made it obvious that he won’t follow in the footsteps of his counterparts in Opposition-ruled states who are constantly at loggerheads with the Centre. Omar’s recent attack on the INDIA bloc, of which the Congress is the most prominent member, was music to the BJP’s ears. His own party’s MP, Aga Syed Mehdi, has stirred the pot by saying that the CM should not be seen by the people as ‘Delhi’s representative’. At stake here are the aspirations of local residents — and Omar’s credibility.