Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s pledging '80,000 crore in funds to bolster development and economic growth in Jammu and Kashmir during his much-hyped visit of Srinagar on Saturday was on expected lines. The PDP-BJP government in the state was craving it for quite long. Also, it is the outcome of hard work and lobbying done by chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and his team of ministers, particularly finance minister Haseeb A. Drabu over the past few months.
But the Prime Minister has once again disappointed thousands of sufferers of September 2014 devastating floods by not announcing a special package towards their rehabilitation. The previous National Conference-Congress government had sought a Rs 44,000 package from the Centre especially for the flood victims and for rebuilding the damaged infrastructure in the state.
However, Mr Drabu has claimed that '8,000 crore in the special package have been earmarked for humanitarian relief, including rehabilitation of the flood-affected. Also disappointed are displaced Kashmiri Pandits who were expecting an exclusive package for them would be announced by the Prime Minister during his visit. The Prime Minister promised to create jobs for Kashmiri youth by improving education and promoting industries, including tourism and cashmere wool called pashmina and horticulture and spoke on a variety of other issues with a pledge to address them within the ambit of Atal Behari Vajpayee’s “Insaniyat, Jumhooriyat and Kashmiriyat” vi sion.
But while the then Prime Minister Mr Vajpayee had after seeking to address the political issues confronting the state within the framework of “democracy, humanity and Kashmiriyat” also extended a “hand of friendship” to Islamabad in his historic speech made from the same venue way back in 2003, Mr Modi mentioned neither Pakistan nor invited separatists for talks. BJP’s coalition partner Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) was also hoping the Prime Minister would talk about strengthening trade and travel between two parts of Jammu and Kashmir by opening up new cross-LoC routes. But Mr Modi skipped this issue too, much to the disappointment of its exponents within the party.
