Ahead of crucial meeting today, Modi reaches out to Mehbooba

PM asks CMs of all states to take interest in J&K students

JAMMU: Amidst rumbling between two coalition partners and suggestions from some 'security experts' and a section of ruling Bhartiya Janta Party to impose Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow.
Even as a sense of anxiety prevails between the ruling partners Peoples Democratic Party and Bhartiya Janta Party but there appears to be a thaw in the stressed relationship as the Prime Minister had made some much required positive gestures. Chief Minister is in New Delhi since Saturday to attend the Niti Aayog meeting. Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh has also been summoned by the BJP leadership in New Delhi even as the party's state executive committee meeting was going on in Doda.
Ahead of their meeting the Prime Minister today reached out to the beleaguered Chief Minister by immediately responding to her concerns of Kashmiri youth being hounded by fringe elements in other states. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today urged all state governments to reach out to the students of Jammu and Kashmir in their respective states.
Prime Minister's advice, which came after Mehbooba raised the point at a meeting of Chief Ministers here, assumes significance as it comes against the backdrop of thrashing of some Kashmiri students in Mewar in Rajasthan and a hoarding in Meerut asking Kashmiris to leave Uttar Pradesh.
At the meeting of the NITI Aayog Governing Council, Modi "seconded" Mehbooba's suggestion that states should take interest in the students from Jammu and Kashmir who are studying in other states.
The Prime Minister "urged states to reach out to these students (of J&K) from time to time", said a statement by the PMO quoting Modi's concluding remarks.
Six Kashmiri students of Mewar University in Rajasthan were recently thrashed by some locals there.
Also, in Meerut, a hoarding had been put up, asking Kashmiris to leave Uttar Pradesh. Modi also took note of the invitation extended by Mehbooba to various state governments to organise events in her state. "The Prime Minister suggested that states could organize events there," the statement said.
Mehbooba, who is under mounting attack in the face of fresh spurt in violence in Kashmir, is expected to discuss with Modi the prevailing situation in the state and the way forward.
In her meeting with Prime Minister she is likely to press for some political initiative from the centre to address the alienation among the people of Kashmir, particularly the youth, which is being reflected in increasing incidents of stone-pelting.
Mehbooba's meeting with the Prime Minister is also taking place against the backdrop of recent bypoll to Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency which witnessed largescale violence and the lowest turnout ever.
In the bypoll, the PDP also lost the seat to National Conference, just in nearly three years after the 2014 general elections.
The PDP and the BJP, which are running the coalition government in the troubled state, are not on the same page on the issue of dealing with the growing trend of stone-pelting and this has led to friction between them.
A BJP minister Chander Prakash Ganga recently advocated strong action, saying "traitors and stone-pelters should be treated with bullets".
This comment drew the ire of the PDP, which said there was a "conspiracy" to keep trouble brewing in the Valley.
"Such detestable remarks not only reflect the nauseous mentality of some extremist politicians in the state, but also expose the larger design of certain elements to provoke fresh trouble in Kashmir so that Kashmiris are pushed into perpetual educational and economic dis-empowerment," senior PDP leader Peerzada Mansoor had said in a statement later.
Against the backdrop of the strains, BJP's pointsman for Jammu and Kashmir Ram Madhav on Friday last held a meeting with senior PDP leader Haseeb Drabu in Jammu.
Madhav then met Ganga, who later expressed regret for his controversial comment.