In a snub to the Gupkar Alliance, Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday rejected their advice to initiate talks with Pakistan and said that he would rather talk to the youth of the frontier area of Baramulla and Kashmir to make the valley the most developed part of the country.

National Conference chief and MP Dr Farooq Abdullah and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti had recently said that dialogue with Pakistan was imperative for peace in Jammu and Kashmir. Shah was addressing a massive rally in north Kashmir’s Baramulla that is close to the Line of Control (LOC).

In a scathing attack on Abdullahs, Muftis and Gandhis, Home Minister Shah said that there is a lot of difference between Prime Minister Modi model and the Gupkar model. The Gupkar Model offers stones, guns in the hands of the Kashmiri youth and shut colleges and schools, whereas the Modi model of governance has brought IITs, IIMs, AIIMS that have provided employment and given mobile and laptop in the hands of the youth.

Prime Minister Modi’s model has also resulted in all round development of Jammu and Kashmir that was earlier denied for 70 years by the three-families that ruled here. For the last 70 years, Mufti and company, Abdullahs and sons were in power here but didn’t provide housing for the one lakh homeless people that have been given by Modi between 2014 and 2022.

The Modi Government has also brought boom in the tourism sector in Kashmir that was earlier identified as a terrorist hotspot. Kashmir has now become a tourism hotspot with the number of tourists increasing from the earlier six lakh to 22 lakh this year that has provided employment to a number of youths, he said.

Shah said that steps have been taken to curb corruption that was rampant in J&K during the earlier regimes that pocketed the funds that were provided by the centre for development of the state. These funds are now being spent at the right place and the anti-corruption bureau

has been established to check corrupt practices.

The Home Minister indicated that the Assembly elections will be held in J&K with full transparency as soon as the compilation of voter lists is completed. As a mark of respect, Shah paused his speech for ‘Azaan,’ the Muslim call for prayer, during his public rally.

He reiterated that the Scheduled Tribe status will soon be given to Paharis of Baramulla and other frontier areas of the UT, who have always stood like a rock against the Pakistani mischief.

Earlier in the morning, Amit Shah in Srinagar chaired a high-level meeting to review the security situation in the Union territory. People of J&K are witnessing a new era of peace, progress and prosperity under the leadership of Modi, he said. He applauded the relentless and coordinated efforts of security forces to curb terrorism.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Director IB, DGs of various central armed police forces, police, army and intelligence officers were present in the meeting. On arrival at Srinagar from Jammu on Tuesday evening, Home Minister Shah handed over job letters to kin of the policemen martyred while fighting terrorism.