Kashmiris, in their dishevelled pherans, started leaving the venue immediately as Modi began to passionately talk about his great love for the land of Kashmir. Modi, himself wearing an immaculate pheran to make a political statement, was completely oblivious to the restive army of pherans that was clamouring to get outside.
Initially, the policemen, under strict orders from their handlers inside, refused to allow anyone to leave the venue. The massed obstreperous crowd, scampering from entrance to concertina-wire-barred entrance, was turning recalcitrant and started hooting and shouting.
As the tension was building up, the security personnel, apprehending trouble, allowed the army of pherans to leave the venue from the middle entrance. Outside, the Kashmiris, watched alertly by hundreds of fully equipped para forces, left in groups for their homes. The army of pherans marching in unison even as the prime minister, nattily turned out in the local dress, was telling them how the Kashmiris were close to his heart.
Getting to the stadium itself was a difficult task with many thick layers of security making sure there wasn't a scope for trouble. The securitymen spent more than 3-4 minutes frisking each person, asking the Kashmiris to lift their pherans repeatedly.
In the biting cold, the entire exercise took on a different, ominous tone. Amid denuded chinar trees and an insipid sun that regularly played hide and seek with the clouds, the monotonous lifting of pherans must have increased the Kashmiri despair. Perhaps enamoured of Modi and his grand talk of development, perhaps wanting to get a glimpse of the prime minister, the rally-bound Kashmiris took everything in their stride and came to register their presence at the event.
Despite the intrepid army of pherans, which had been ritually lifted, despite the presence of many local Muslim leaders, despite a tremendous buildup, despite the media hype, despite everything, not many turned out at the rally. Modi grandly told the audience he was elated to see large numbers, but his please-all euphoria was in stunning contrast to the many empty plastic seats that spoke eloquently of Kashmir's immense emptiness.
"People had waited for three hours for Modi to arrive. Kashmiris are impatient by nature, and rightfully so. We have seen a lot of turmoil. Perhaps some people who had come all the way from Anantnag and Kupwara couldn't follow the language," said a patient Anees Mir, a commerce teacher who had travelled from Balhama, 20 kilometres from the state capital.
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Some were hesitantly willing to give the prime minister a chance, simply because they were tired of the dynasties that have run the valley to the ground. Haji Sheikh Mehboob Ali, a snack-shop owner on Residency Road, believes Kashmiris will not be easily impressed by Modi's high-voltage campaign. But the local politicians and their rotten dynasty politics can prompt him to consider joining the BJP.
As Modi spoke of the pain of the valley, two hawks, one after another, swooped down and winger their way to the raised platform, where Modi and his team were perched safely protected by gun-wielding SPG commandos who looked almost hawk-like in their intense concentration. The raptors, perhaps sensing the dovish mood prevailing in the stadium, just changed their flight path and vanished into the naked chinars behind.
The streets of Kashmir had been eerily empty since morning. It was not the bone-numbing cold that forced people to stay indoors; it was an edict by the security establishment that shut almost the entire city down and kept its people in their houses.
There was utter confusion about the diktat; it made the whole thing Kafkaesque because no one seemed to know on whose orders it was issued. Some Kashmiris said it was hartal triggered closure to protest against the Prime Minister's visit; some made it more messy by pointing to the ubiquitous cops and blaming them for the city's shutdown.
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