A manicured buoyancy of hope marks visits to Jammu and Kashmir by political grandees from New Delhi. That’s often a sign of stasis rather than movement. But there are times when things pick up pace and purpose beyond protocol utterances. One such moment came during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Srinagar on June 20-21. That he was there just a fortnight after assuming charge for his third term was already a sign of intent. Underlining that, he gave two assurances that are sure to get the lifeblood flowing in Kashmir’s frozen polity: the conduct of long-overdue assembly election and the restoration of statehood.
