Violence biggest hurdle in J&K’s development: LG

Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday said the District Development Council elections in 2020 marked the end of ‘jungle raj’ in J&K, but violence was the biggest hurdle in the region’s peace and development.

Sinha, while addressing the I-Day event, said the soul of India was deeply connected with J&K. From Lal Qila to Lal Chowk and Vitasta to Ganga, everyone should walk together as co-walkers, he said. The functions across J&K were organised amid strict security and tricolour was hoisted on several government buildings. The LG also hoisted a 100-feet tricolour at the historic Hari Parbat Fort, which overlooks Srinagar city.

“In 2020, DDC elections ended ‘jungle raj’ as the entire J&K participated in the fair, transparent and violence-free polls. The people who have been elected are the actual representatives of the people and not of a certain power centre,” Sinha said.


“We, along with the youth, can transform J&K into Shalimar garden once again,” he said, adding: “By misguiding youths, inimical forces are denying them a life of peace and dignity on this pious soil.”

Reiterating the late prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s famous quote ‘insaniyat, jamhooriyat and Kashmiriyat’, Sinha said Jhamooriyat hadn’t been allowed to flourish on the ground for decades.