PM To Visit Kashmir Next Week, 1st Trip Since Special Status Withdrawn

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kashmir valley next week for the first time since his government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of special status under Article 370 and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories in 2019.

NDTV has learnt that the Prime Minister will be addressing a rally in Srinagar on March 7 and launch various schemes during his trip.

"It was a longstanding demand of people here that the Prime Minister come and address them. Now on March 7, he will be addressing a rally," Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina told NDTV.

According to the current plan, Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre has been finalised as the venue for the Prime Minister's visit. Elaborate security arrangements are underway and a high alert has been declared. Police and paramilitary personnel are conducting random checks on vehicles at multiple locations.

"As a precautionary measure, special inspection points have been set up at various sites across Srinagar," a source said. The high alert, sources said, is aimed at preventing any activity by terrorists during the Prime Minister's significant visit to Kashmir.

The Prime Minister visited the Union Territory on February 20 when he addressed a rally in Jammu and inaugurated projects worth Rs 32,000 crore. "The Prime Minister's visit holds a lot of significance as the BJP is going to showcase Naya Kashmir as one of its major achievements," a BJP leader said.

The BJP leader said the party aims to make inroads into the Valley through Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat that covers south Kashmir areas of Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag, and Jammu's Rajouri and Poonch.

Before the delimitation of constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, Anantnag seat comprised only four south Kashmir districts -- Shopian, Kulgam, Pulwama and Anantnag. This seat was won by National Conference's Hasnain Masoodi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.