PM Modi address Highlights: Let us create a new J&K and Ladakh, along with a new India, says PM

PM Narendra Modihas urged the people of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh, especially youth, to be a part of this historic journey and walk together for a greater cause. A peaceful and prosperous J&K and Ladakh is what every Indian wants.

The people of J&K and Ladakh have always been betrayed and deprived of development in the name of Article 370 by those who ruled the state for the past seven decades.But now by the abrogation of Article 370, Prime Minister Narendra Modihas put an end to this injustice.

Right to Education, Minimum Wages Act, Minority Act, social reservation for the disempowered, corruption-free governance, development of J&K and Ladakh is the least that people of these regions, which should have been their right, will get after this historic decision of PM Modi.

The decision (of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution as well as the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir) will help in the economic development of the entire country, along with the development of J&K and Ladakh.

I thank the companies of security forces deployed for the security of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The people associated with the administration, state employees; the manner in which the Jammu and Kashmir Police is handling the situation is praiseworthy, your hard work has further enhanced my belief that change can happen.

The government is taking care that people should not have any problem in celebrating Eid in Jammu and Kashmir. Our companions who live outside Jammu and Kashmir and want to return to their homes on Eid, the government is helping them in all possible ways.

I assure the colleagues of Jammu and Kashmir that gradually the situation will become normal and their troubles will also get reduced. The festival of Eidis also close. The government is taking due steps that the people of Jammu and Kashmir can celebrate the festival without any trouble.

We should also not forget that the patriotic people of Jammu and Kashmir have stood firmly against the Pakistani conspiracies to promote terrorism and separatism.

I also want to say to every countryman that the concern of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, we are all concerned, their happiness, sorrow and their suffering are no different from us.

But I urge them to treat national interest as paramount and help the government in giving a new direction to Jammu and Kashmir-Ladakh. Beyond who voted, who did not vote in Parliament, now we have to work together, unitedly in the interest of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

It is also very natural in a democracy that some people are in favor of this decision and some have differences over it. I respect their differences as well as their objections. The central government is also responding to the debate on it. This is our democratic responsibility.

Irrespective of who supported the resolution to scrap Article 370 provisions, and who opposed them in Parliament, we need to accept that the resolution is a reality. We should work towards the growth and development of the state.

As Ladakh is now a Union Territory (UT), its development is now the Centre's responsibility.

Whether it is the color of saffron in Jammu and Kashmir or the taste of kahva (herbal tea), the sweetness of apples or the succulence of apricots, Kashmiri shawls or artworks, the organic products of Ladakh or herbal medicine, it needs to be spread worldwide.