PM Modi inaugurates Z-Morh Tunnel at Sonamarg Kashmir

 

The political stock exchange took an unbelievable posture, when the Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the Sonmarg Tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir, just a few days back, a crucial infrastructure project designed to enhance connectivity, defense capabilities, and tourism in the region. Omar Abdullah praised Modi beyond  expectations, when eye brows are being raised across the political circles, to know the inherent cause for the same. Some political savants say that probably such praises by the chief minister Omar Abdullah on the prime minister may be an opportunistic gimmick by Omar Abdullah, to gain the sympathy of Modi to get the union territory of J & K converted into its original position of a regular State. Yet, good intentions on the part of Omar Abdullah, to shower praises on the Prime Minister cannot be ruled out, looking to the herculean tasks doneby Modi and his government in Jammu and Kashmir during the rule of the Lieutenant Governor. In fact the chief minister Omar Abdullah made bold confessions about the same during this inaugural ceremony to the visible audience of the national  and the international press and media. Omar Abdullah praised Modi about his commitment to hold the elections in the union territory of J & K, some months back, which he said , were held  as per the commitments of Modi in time. Omar Abdullah very boldly acknowledged to the complete disappointment of INDI Alliance block that elections in J & K were held very fairly when he acknowledged that blaming EVM’s is far from the real facts.  This has made his electoral coalition partner the Congress to eat its humble pie under its own pants. If it is so, it shows that he is free from any political hypocrisy to confess the truth, unlike that of his esteemed father, Dr. Farooq Abdullah. But some wonder that is it believable as per the functional background of ferocious animosity between the NC and BJP, which was vibrantly visible during the assembly elections. How can such a political divergent polarity be gapped in just one meeting at the naugural ceremonial occasion of the Z- Morh Tunnel inauguration. There are hearsays going on that Omar Abdullah is coming closer to BJP, when one of the MP of NC, raised some issues about the reservation policy being handled by Omar Abdullah, and sounded signals of rebellion of sorts, about his disagreement with the Chief Minister, on such policy decisions. Omar Abdullah the CM of J & K, also thanked Modi, at this occasion of the ceremonial inauguration of the historic tunnel. This tunnel, located at 8,650 feet above sea level, will ensure all-weather access to the strategically important Ladakh region while bypassing landslide-prone routes. This tunnel is expected to reduce travel time, promote tourism, and improve the region’s economic prospects. The project highlights India’s commitment to strengthening its border areas and improving local livelihoods in and around Sonamarg, Kashmir. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Sonamarg Tunnel, PM Modi said, Jammu and Kashmir is becoming a hub of tunnels, bridges and ropeways.  The highest tunnel in the world is being built here. The highest railroad bridge in the world is being built here. The highest rail lines in the world are being built here. The world is in awe after seeing the engineering of the Chenab Bridge. This Tunnel is around 12 km long and has been constructed at a cost of over Rs 2,700 crores. It comprises of the Sonamarg main tunnel of 6.4 km in length, an egress tunnel and approach roads. Situated at an altitude of over

8,650 feet above sea level, it will enhance all-weather connectivity between Srinagar and Sonamarg enroute to Leh, bypassing landslide and avalanche routes and ensuring safer and uninterrupted access to the strategically critical Ladakh region. This tunnel will promote tourism by transforming Sonamarg into a year-round destination, boosting winter tourism, adventure sports, and local livelihoods. P. M said that along with the Zojila Tunnel, set for completion by 2028, it will reduce the route length from 49 km to 43 km and boost vehicle speed from 30 km/hr to 70 km/hr, ensuring seamless NH-1 connectivity between Srinagar Valley and Ladakh. This enhanced connectivity will boost defense logistics, and drive economic growth and socio-cultural integration across Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi after inaugurating the Z-Morh Tunnel, said that his government fulfils the promises it makes, adding that the construction of the tunnel was started in 2015, during his government’s first tenure, and was completed in his third tenure. PM Modi said that with the hard work of his government, the situation in the Valley has changed and now “people are going to Lal Chowk to eat ice cream at night. The other face of the political situation is that when Omar Abdullah took his oath of office as the chief minister of Indian- administered Jammu & Kashmir just a few months back, many welcomed it as a victory for democracy, particularly dotted I.N.D.I Alliance and congress a component of it. But to the entire misfortune of the people of Kashmir, they never thought that while bringing Abdulla’s back they are again at the beck and call of the dynastic rulers, who have shaken and uprooted the entire validity of Jammu and Kashmir as a democratic state of India as other states of India, after ndependence in 1947, as it is continuing to be ruled by dynastic rulers again, replacing the rule of the Great Maharaja Hari Singh, per force under the unfortunate patronage of Nehru. The 54-yearold leader comes from the powerful Abdullah family, which has deep roots in the history of this restive region. His grandfather Sheikh Abdullah founded the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference party in the 1930s (later renamed to Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, or JKNC) and was seen as a powerful figure before and after India and Pakistan secured their independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. As we all know that Omar’s father, Farooq Abdullah, also served three terms as chief minister. So his being the chief minister, as a family legacy, is again a bottleneck to the expected democratic rule by the masses of Kashmir, which has eaten the basic instinct of “People’s” rule in Kashmir which is fundamentally responsible for the devastation of Jammu and Kashmir, in every aspect of its development. The common youth of Jammu and Kashmir was  never allowed to grow to rule the Jammu and Kashmir. This led to the acute acts of militancy and influx of terror in Kashmir, when the youth of Kashmir feeling frustrated took to guns, which was abetted by the Islamic fundamentalism forces prevalent in Kashmir, abetted by the various Islamic terror groups across the border. It brought in the acute religious fundamentalism in Kashmir, when some people made attempts to carve for “ Nizame-Mustafa”, Islamic rule in Kashmir. It resulted in the mass devastation and forced evacuation of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir, who are still in deep agonies due to it. Under such circumstances how much truth can be derived out of the showering of praises on Modi, by Omar Abdullah, when it is a case of a play of the cat and the mouse, can be any bodies guess? There can be no mutual trust between NC and BJP, even though BJP may like to have one. NC has to play its political card the other way round. NC cannot live or exist without that. NC has to attend to its vote bank which is now polarized beyond repairs. Only heaves can help it. However, the situation that Omar Abdullah now navigates is starkly different, marked by the repeal of Article 370 in 2019, which stripped the region of its autonomous status. The erstwhile state was also downgraded into a union territory. Abdullah’s JNKC wants to see the restoration of the region’s state hood status back. . The party secured 42 out of 90 seats in the regional assembly. The BJP won big 29 seats, which sounded a signal to NC and its lifelong owners and masters that enough is enough. All these seats for BJP came from Jammu region when Congress was wiped out totally from Jammu in these elections. It speaks of an equivalent polarization of the electoral mandate, which may lead to the alienation of Jammu from Kashmir. Omar Abdullah is ‘navigating uncharted waters’. “You don’t get a mandate like this without people expecting to see visible change”. This is what Omar Abdullah is saying now. Omar Abdullah will have now to restore trust and stability among the politically disillusioned populace, due to NC’s illusory election mandate full of regionalism and religious fundamentalism. It is being said that his government would face challenges and shall have to cooperate with the central government ruled0by BJP and secure concession from Prime Minister Modi. His showering of praises on the  PM Modi is being linked to that. Restoring the region’s statehood has been a top concern for nearly all local  parties since Article 370 was repealed five years ago. While Abdullah presented this goal as a priority for the legislative assembly, the timeline remains unclear and the issue of statehood is ultimately under the control of the central government. “If Omar Abdullah doesn’t get anything from the center, he will be truly heading the weakest government despite the strongest-ever mandate. This is the compulsion of Omar Abdullah to shower praises on the PM Modi on the occasion of the inauguration of the Tunnel at Sonamarg, to gain his trust and confidence for the restoration of the state hood status back to J & K. How best it may work, is to be watched. Probably BJP and Modi must be equally conscious about it. It is not that simple a situation for Omar Abdullah. Modi the matured politician, who made the abrogation of Article 370 to mature, will be a tough politician and a statesman for Omar Abdullah and NC to face. The displaced Kashmiri Pandits wish success to both in their missions to develop Jammu and Kashmir, yet, will there be any development plausible without KP’s, in Kashmir. To the dismay of the entire displaced community of KP’s, both the Prime Minister and Omar Abdullah on this occasion of the inaugurating of tunnel, did not speak a single word about KP’s and their turmoil, when it is  almost adding salt to the bleeding wounds of the forcibly displaced  KP’s, who were driven out of Kashmir due to extreme acts of militancy in 1990. It sounds shocking and distressful. KP’s regrets are not against Omar Abdullah, as it is expected from him by the KP’s, as KP’s were driven out of Kashmir due to extreme acts of militancy in 1990, when his father Dr. Farooq Abdullah was the chief minister and NC was ruling J & K State. The biggest regret is that the Prime Minster did not utter a single  word about the plight of KP’s on this occasion when while addressing  the gathering on the occasion, he thanked the laborers who have worked hard and also   put their lives at stake for the development of Jammu and Kashmir and India, but ignored the displaced as the forcibly displaced residents of Kashmir, who are still waiting and clamoring for their honourable rehabilitation back in Kashmir after more than 35 years of their exile. Kashmir has been and is being developed fast under  Modi’s government when scores of tunnels, high altitude bridges, railway lines, road connectivity’s etc, have been built, leading to  provide all the conveniences to the people of Kashmir, ensuring a flip in the development of Kashmir and its people, particularly  in the tourism sector of Kashmir for the local populace, yet, Matram” train net work, when a high altitude railway bridge has been constructed on the Chenab river, to make it possible to pass this train through high altitude mountainous reaches. But there is nothing for the suffering KP’s about their rehabilitation back in Kashmir. There is no sympathy for the displaced KP’s, in all the phases of development,  from reservation in services and the like, to KP’s living in exile across the length and breadth of this country as refugees. The Modi government did not afford to have a law passed in the Parliament of India, seeking a legal probe in the mass genocide and  murder of KP’s, in the year 1990. The present government at the centre led  by BJP has been drum beating a lot about the rehabilitation of the KP’s back in Kashmir with dignity and honor since last ten years without any positive outcome thereof. If Article 370 could be abrogated and Article 35A removed and when the luminous state of Jammu and Kashmir has been reduced to the status of a mere union territory and Ladakh separated from it, through legal acts of parliament, what stopped the political clan of the day to similarly create a union territory  for the displaced KP’s, as a separate  home land for KP’s to live as respectable citizens with honor and dignity and not as refugees in their own country, or as political victims under the Islamic dominance and fear of the gun, in the valley of Kashmir. The reason is that we are not a vote bank entity at all for the BJP, so why should it bother for KP’s. These are all hallowing slogans just for public consumption. KP’s sufferances are the “Legacies of 19th January- 1990”. Who bothers? KP’s dependence has to be now a self-dependence for KP’s. BJP is not the remedy. KP’s have no choice but to support BJP as per “Hinduvita” plank, not for any help or support from it. It will be an illusion as per past experiences. KP’s will have to fight it back of their own. Forget BJP and its support.without KP’s. Kashmir is now connected through the Bhande- Matram” train network, when a high altitude railway bridge has been constructed on the Chenab river, to make it possible to pass this train through high altitude mountainous reaches. But there is nothing for the suffering KP’s about their rehabilitation back in Kashmir. There is no sympathy for the displaced KP’s, in all the phases of development, from reservation in services and the like, to KP’s living in exile across the length and breadth of this country as refugees. The Modi government did not afford to have a law passed in the Parliament of India, seeking a legal probe in the mass genocide and murder of KP’s, in the year 1990. The present government at the centre led by BJP has been drum beating a lot about the rehabilitation of the KP’s back in Kashmir with dignity and honor since last ten years without any positive outcome thereof. If Article 370 could be abrogated and Article 35A removed and when the luminous state of Jammu and Kashmir has been reduced to the status of a mere union territory and Ladakh separated from it, through legal acts of parliament, what stopped the political clan of the day to similarly create a union territory for the displaced KP’s, as a separate home land for KP’s to live as respectable citizens with honor and dignity and not as refugees in their own country, or as political victims under the Islamic dominance and fear of the gun, in the valley of Kashmir. The reason is that we are not a vote bank entity at all for the BJP, so why should it bother for KP’s. These are all hallowing slogans just for public consumption. KP’s sufferances are the “Legacies of 19th January- 1990”. Who bothers? KP’s dependence has to be now a self-dependence for KP’s. BJP is not the remedy. KP’s have no choice but to support BJP as per “Hinduvita” plank, not for any help or support from it. It will be an illusion as per past experiences. KP’s will have to fight it back of their own. Forget BJP and its support

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