Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that democracy has reached to the grassroots level in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370. “Earlier in Kashmir there were 90 MLAs and 6 MPs. Today more than 30,000 panches. sarpanches are in the tehsil panchayat and zila panchyat. These members are working for the leadership in the panchayat system in Kashmir,” the Union Minister stated in his virtual address at the 'Kashmir Mahotsav' organised by the Indian Institute of Sustainability, Gujarat University in Ahmedabad. Shah also said that Kashmir has witnessed a drop in the terror-related and stone-pelting incidents due to the efforts by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “There was a time when in Kashmir bombings, curfews and stone pelting was reported. Today in the hands of same youth of Kashmir is laptop, books and new thinking and also a promise to join the country in the race of startups and challenge youth of the world. Modiji has brought this in nine years,” he added. Shah further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created a lot of platforms for country’s youth like Skill India. With this, ITIs were made, 4,000 new seats created more than 20 lakh students covered skill development. “More than 70,000 startups are strengthening their eco system. In 2016 this was only 724. After Modiji more than 70,000 startups have been created, 44 per cent of these are run by women and girls. More than 100 are in unicorn club and 45 per cent startups are in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. This means startups now are reaching down too. I request you students to visit Kashmir and motivate youth for the start up movement in there too,” the Union Minister appealed to the students from both Gujarat and Kashmir. The Union Minister also said that the India has different languages, cultures, dresses, foods, and for such a diverse country to unite is not a challenge as India for years has been following the idea of co-existence. “If we have to maintain this as our strength then the concept of ‘ek bharat shresth bharat’ should be implement on the ground,” he said. Terming Kashmir an amalgamation of different cultures, the Union Minister said. “There is Islam, Buddhism, Shankracharya and Sufism. Combining all these different cultures is Kashmir. And in way if we imagine the country, Kashmir is the gem of the crown. ” He also said that last year around 1.80 crore tourists visited Kashmir from across the country.
