Srinagar, Mar 7 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pulled Kashmir out of a long nightmare of gloom, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday.

In his introductory address at the prime minister's public rally at Bakshi Stadium here, he said, PM Modi has changed the destiny of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and given them a dream of a bright new future.

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"The hands that wielded the gun till yesterday are today found holding iPads and computers. The fingers that were laced with blood till yesterday are today seen weaving the Pashmina threads and impressing the world with their traditional handicraft," said Singh, the Union Minister of State for Personnel.

Today, the dark clouds of hopelessness have vanished from Srinagar's skies and waves of hope are sweeping the streams of the Jhelum river, he said.

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Singh, who represents J-K's Udhampur constituency in the Lok Sabha, said "Tomorrow, when you proclaim the new India, we, the people of Jammu and Kashmir would also proudly tell the posterity that we too had a modest role to play in blossoming the new Kashmir that shines brightly in the new India of PM Modi".

Addressing a massive rally at Srinagar's Bakshi stadium, the first by a prime minister, Modi asserted that Jammu and Kashmir is "breathing freely" after the abrogation of Article 370 and pledged accelerated progress over the next five years.

This was Modi's first visit to Kashmir since the Centre revoked the special status given to the erstwhile state and bifurcated it into two Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh -- on August 5, 2019.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)