Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Srinagar to celebrate Yoga Day, keeping up with the tradition of choosing a different venue every year since he began organising public events on the day in 2015. This also comes in the series of state visits — Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and now Jammu and Kashmir — by Modi after his reelection in India’s national polls held during April-June.
About 7,000 people are likely to participate in the Dal Lake event of Modi to mark the 10th International Yoga Day, according to Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. There seems to be a bigger message that the prime minister and his government want to send by this Yoga Day event in Srinagar.
Personal connect with Kashmiri people
Sinha has said the choice of Srinagar as the venue was guided by the prime minister’s special connection with Jammu and Kashmir. He said the people of the Union Territory have reciprocated Modi’s special bonding with the region, citing his public meeting at Bakshi stadium in March this year.
“I don’t believe there’s a distance between the people of Jammu and Kashmir and PM Modi. Three months ago when he gave a speech at Bakshi stadium, a sea of people came to witness the historic moment. This proves that the people are equally attached with PM Modi,” he said.
“If some people believe that there is a distance between the people and the PM, then it’s their problem. Our PM remains in touch with locals here through different mediums. When a weaver does something extraordinary, when youth initiate something new, our PM appreciates them,” Sinha said.
Modi looks keen on sending the message of personal bonding with Kashmir again.
Amarnath Yatra, a cultural message
Amarnath Yatra has long represented the harmonious nature of the Kashmiri society. However, it has not been held regularly in the past few years. The schedule has been announced for the annual pilgrimage — June 29 to August 19. The yatra has either been cancelled or curtailed since 2018. This year, it is expected to run the full course.
The yatra came under the scanner after recent incidents of terror in Jammu and Kashmir. Four terror incidents were reported from the Union Territory in two days of Modi taking oath as the prime minister for the third consecutive time. Following the incidents, his government responded with stronger measures to track down terror modules in both Jammu and Kashmir regions.
The choice of Srinagar, in the heart of the Kashmir Valley, for a symbolic event appears to be a message from the Modi government that the prime minister is focused on bringing normalcy back to the Union Territory, which has not had its elected government since June 2018.
“We have made special arrangements for Amarnath Yatra also. Muharram is also approaching and we will make sure that everything is in place,” said Sinha.
Confidence building ahead of election
Modi’s Srinagar visit for the Yoga Day comes close on the heels of the parliamentary election and ahead of the likely Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls, for which the Election Commission of India has begun the process. Three days after it announced the Lok Sabha election results, the poll panel invited applications from the political parties for the allocation of election symbols for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls. This marks the beginning of an election process.
Jammu and Kashmir saw a voter turnout of about 59 per cent — the highest in 35 years — in the parliamentary polls. Though Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), didn’t win a seat from the Kashmir region while it dominated the Jammu region, the prime minister’s choice of the Yoga Day venue is aimed at sending an affirmative message to the Valley that has seen Pakistan-backed terrorism with the objective of discrediting India’s electoral processes.
A message to Pakistan and also China
Coming against the backdrop of a spurt in terror incidents, for which India has blamed Pakistani establishment and terror groups operating from Pakistan’s soil, Modi’s Srinagar Yoga Day event is an affirmation of India’s position that Jammu and Kashmir lies at the core of its territorial integrity. This assumes significance in the view of Pakistan’s stated objective of securing separation of Jammu and Kashmir through a policy of, what one of its former military chief and president called, “bleed India with a thousand cuts”.
China has traditionally supported Pakistan in its Kashmir policy. In recent times, its activities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have intensified in close cooperation with the Pakistan Army. This change is significant against the backdrop of how India and China faced-off one another in eastern Ladakh. Thousands of troops continue to be deployed from both sides in the high mountain ranges, with several rounds of talks have failed to bring back normalcy as it existed before June 2020, when the first bloodied clash happened in 45 years. India lost its 20 soldiers in a non-gunfire clash in the Galwan Valley. China never disclosed casualties on its side.
China’s aggression in Ladakh was reportedly a reaction to infrastructure building by India in the region. Modi’s Srinagar visit is an apparent message to the pairing of China and Pakistan as they covet different parts of the northern Indian territories.
Another message to the world
While the immediate message could be aimed at Pakistan and China, Modi’s Srinagar visit for a grand public event on the banks of the famous Dal lake is also being interpreted as a message to the world at large. Given its history and geostrategic place, Kashmir always attracts global attention.
India has been consistent in sending a message that Jammu and Kashmir remains strongly democratic in stark contrast to a compromised democracy in Pakistan and an autocratic communist regime in China. The record voter turnout in the parliamentary election makes it all the more significant for the Modi government to keep the mood upbeat in Jammu and Kashmir, where terror groups are making fresh attempts to dampen it ahead of the Assembly polls.
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