Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said on Saturday that the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created an enabling milieu for huge voter turnout in the Kashmir Valley, which was virtually unimaginable till a few years ago.

In the backdrop of the crucial polling in the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency today, Dr Jitendra Singh said, as far as the Kashmir Valley is concerned, the polling has been almost as much or higher than the national average.

Last time also in Phase-5 it was 59 to 60 percent average at the national level while Baramulla Constituency alone had witnessed over 59 percent of polling. Similarly, today also in the Anantnag-Rajouri Constituency the polling is set to be equal or higher than the national average, he said.

This, said Dr Jitendra Singh, is a vindication of the fact that in the last 2 to 3 decades, the Kashmir Valley was constrained to go through elections of a very limited scale and the voter turnout was also limited.

As a result of this, MPs and MLAs as well as the governments would get elected with a dismal voter turnout but this suited the dynastic political parties of Kashmir to continue their family rule, he said.

The credit goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Dr Jitendra Singh, for having made the people of Kashmir realise the true sense of democracy which is being reflected in the ongoing Lok Sabha general elections happening for the first time after the abrogation of Article 370.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, this drastic change has happened because of the personal outreach and honest approach demonstrated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which has successfully convinced the people of Kashmir that already 2 to 3 generations have been wasted and it is time to move on with the rest of India.

He said, the people of Jammu & Kashmir are highly aspirational and highly forward looking, as a result of which they can now visualise the opportunities made available by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and do not wish to miss the bus.

Referring to the protest by the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the protest is not convincing and perhaps it is an indirect expression of weakness. He said, when the democratic forces have come out so openly and vibrantly in Kashmir Valley, whosoever is in a denial mode will have issues within himself or herself.