24/12/2014
Mr. Modi is far from popular in the Kashmir Valley, and his party is likely to be drubbed there in the election, though its Hindu base in the Jammu region of the state will probably ensure it a significant bloc of seats in the state assembly.
“We have no chance in the valley here,” said Daljit Singh, a party member who attended Mr. Modi’s rally.
But that, too, is remarkable: For decades, India’s leaders did not allow themselves to lose here, often arresting popular leaders or stealing elections outright.
Kashmir has been a flash point for Pakistan and India since independence and partition in 1947. Pakistan has never accepted the state’s inclusion in India and has tried repeatedly to dislodge it, both with military incursions and by supporting Kashmiri insurgents. India has often responded brutally, at times with almost industrialized slaughter that filled thousands of unmarked graves in scores of secret cemeteries. Much of what India stood for came to die in this valley.