Now, govt's Kashmir rhetoric is directed at international audience

Having turned life upside down for the people of the Kashmir Valley, what exactly did Prime Minister Narendra Modi mean when he said we will have to hug every Kashmiri?

Having turned life upside down for the people of the Kashmir Valley, under siege for more than six weeks, what exactly did Prime Minister Narendra Modi mean when he said we will have to hug every Kashmiri? It rings even hollower than his “goli se nahin gale se” speech on Independence Day in 2017 when he first enunciated a policy of embracing Kashmiris rather than subduing them with bullets.

This time Modi’s public rhetoric may not be directed at Kashmir or even the rest of India. The public relations exercise could be to counter the accusations against Modi of being a