NEW DELHI: India's Hindu nationalist ruling party vowed on Monday to strip decades-old special rights from the people of Jammu and Kashmir, making an election promise that provoked warnings of a backlash in the country's only Muslim-majority state.
"Nationalism is our inspiration, economic development of the poor and backward sections our philosophy, and good governance our mantra," Modi said after releasing the election manifesto at BJP headquarters in New Delhi, as supporters chanted"Modi, Modi". "The BJP’s campaign is largely around nationalism, national security and this is what is getting echoed in their manifesto," said Sanjay Kumar, director of thinktank the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies."Let them do it and it will pave the way for our azadi," Farooq Abdullah, president of Kashmir's National Conference party, told an election rally, referring to freedom for the region."They are wrong. We will fight against it.