New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the forthcoming Lok Sabha election in Jammu and Kashmir will take place without the fear of terrorism, protests, stone-pelting, and cross-border firing. This marks a significant departure from “poll-boycott” campaigns run by the separatist group in the past three decades which have now become a history.

While addressing the public rally in Udhampur, Modi said that he had fulfilled his promise to end the long-suffering of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. PM further challenged Congress and other opposition parties to bring back Article 370 of the Constitution and said “They cannot do it”. The article was revoked by the BJP-led government in August 2019.

“I have been coming to Jammu and Kashmir for the last five decades. I remember the Ekta Yatra in 1992 to unfurl the tricolour at the Lal Chowk (in Srinagar). We received a grand welcome. In 2014, after offering prayers at the Vaishno Devi temple, I addressed a gathering at this very venue and gave a guarantee of freeing the people who have suffered for generations (due to terrorism),” he said.

He added that with people’s faith in our government, we have managed to fulfil the promise. “After decades, this election is taking place without the fear of terrorism, separatism, stone-pelting, strikes and cross-border terrorism, which are no more election issues. There used to be a concern regarding the security of the Vaishno Devi and Amarnath pilgrimages, but the situation has changed altogether. Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing development and the people’s faith in the government is getting strengthened,” the PM said.

After Pakistan-sponsored terrorism reared its head in the 1990s, the separatists led by the Hurriyat Conference used to run poll boycott campaigns in Jammu and Kashmir. The upcoming Lok Sabha polls will be the first election in the region after the abrogation of Article 370 and there is neither such a campaign nor stone-pelting this time around.

Referring to the revocation of Article 370, Modi challenged the Congress and other opposition parties to get back the contentious constitutional provision and said “They cannot do it”.

Prime Minister also hits out at dynasty politics and said, “Families with a dynastic set-up have harmed Jammu and Kashmir more than anyone else. These parties are of the family, by the family and for the family and they are the ones who created the wall of Article 370. They created an illusion that only Article 370 can safeguard the lives of the people here.”

“With your blessings, Modi has not only demolished this wall but even buried its debris. I challenge the opposition parties, especially the Congress, to announce that they will get Article 370 back. The country will not even look at their faces,” he further added.

The rally was organised at Modi ground along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, aimed at bolstering support for Union Minister Jitendra Singh, who seeks a third consecutive victory from Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency seats.

The coming Lok Sabha election is scheduled to be held in seven phases, where Ushampur is all set to polls on April 19. The Congress party has nominated Choudhary Lal Singh and the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) has nominated G M Saroori from the seat.