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Amit Shah to address rally in Baramulla on October 5
Union home minister Amit Shah will be addressing a public rally in north Kashmir’s Baramulla town on Wednesday.
Union home minister Amit Shah will be addressing a public rally in north Kashmir’s Baramulla town on Wednesday. The home minister’s programme was rescheduled at the last minute as earlier he was scheduled to speak at the rally on October 1.
BJP’s J&K leadership, stationed in Baramulla town to make the rally a success, claimed that thousands of people will be attending the rally at Degree College, Baramulla. “We are stationed in Baramulla to make this rally a success. All the arrangements have been finalised. It will be one of the biggest rallies,” BJP state spokesman Altaf Thakur, said.
BJP general secretary, Sunil Sharma, who is also in-charge of Kashmir affairs, along with other senior leaders visited the venue several times.
Top officials from the police and the administration also visited the venue to oversee the security arrangements. Director general of police, Dilbag Singh and divisional commissioner Kashmir Pandurang K Pole also chaired separate meetings to review the situation ahead of the home minister’s visit to Baramulla. This is going to be the BJP’s first mega show in north Kashmir’s Baramulla town.
After the abrogation of Article 370, this will be the second visit of the home minister to Kashmir. Earlier, he had visited Pulwama and Srinagar last year.
During his two-day visit to the UT, Shah, besides attending a big rally in Baramulla, was likely to make an announcement for the Pahari community, granting them special status in the state. Like Gujjars, the Pahari community, for years, has been demanding a grant of special status, though the leaders of the Gujjar community have been opposing this demand. Meanwhile, leaders of the Pahari community have been asking their community members to make the home minister’s rally a success. To garner support for the rally, Pahari community leaders have travelled to various areas to urge their community to come to the rally.
Shah will address a similar rally in Jammu and will chair a security review meeting besides inaugurating some developmental projects. As per reports, the home minister will start his tour by offering prayers at Vaishno Devi temple on October 4.
He will later address a public meeting at Rajouri. The minister will further launch development projects and also lay foundation stones for various projects at the convention centre in Jammu.
On the second day of his visit on Wednesday (October 5), Shah will review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir at a meeting that is slated to be held at Raj Bhavan in Srinagar.
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Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha, top officials of the Army, paramilitary forces, state police and civil administration will take part in this high-level meeting expected to begin at 10 am.
Last year in October, Amit Shah visited J&K for three days and also addressed Sanik Samelan. He also laid the foundation stones for several projects at UT. During his previous visit, Shah didn’t hold any meetings with the leaders of any mainstream political parties.
Shah’s J&K visit gains significance as polls in the UT are on the cards. The UT government has already said that almost all the preparations have been made for the elections and it was up to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to decide the date for the polls. Meanwhile, all the political parties have also started preparing for the elections that would be the first after the abrogation of Article 370.
(With inputs from agencies)
