New Delhi, September 24:
Home minister Amit Shah will be visiting J&K next week and is likely to make some big announcements during his stay in the UT.
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 will be attending a big rally in north Kashmir’s Baramulla town. Shah is likely to make an announcement for the Pahari community, granting them a 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.
BJP state spokesman Altaf Thakur said that the home minister will be addressing a big rally at Degree College, Baramulla. “He (Amit Shah) will be making an important announcement about Pahari’s and OBCs during this rally. It’s going to be a big gathering. He will arrive in Srinagar on October 1,” he said.
During his stay in J&K, Amit Shah will likely hold separate meetings with members of the business community, especially hotel owners and businessmen related to tourism and other allied sectors. Sources said Shah can also meet with leaders of different political parties and panchayat representatives. Shah will be celebrating Gandhi Jayanti at a school in Kashmir. However for security reasons the selected schools one be finalised next Sunday. Shah is also likely to announce developmental projects for UT, besides addressing another rally in Jammu.
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. At that time 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.
