<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today he was working to “win hearts” in Indian-administered Kashmir, on his first visit to the disputed region’s main city since its semi-autonomy was cancelled in 2019.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Modi’s government stripped the Muslim-majority territory of its special constitutional status nearly five years ago, splitting the former state into two territories directly ruled from New Delhi.</div><div><br></div><div>The move, widely welcomed across India, angered many in the densely militarised territory.</div><div><br></div><div>“I am working hard to win your hearts, and my attempt to keep winning your hearts will continue,” the Hindu nationalist leader said at a public rally in Srinagar.</div><div><br></div><div>Rebels in the Himalayan region have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan – which controls a smaller part of the Kashmir region and, like India, claims it in full.</div><div><br></div><div>“Jammu and Kashmir is not just a region, it is the crown of the country,” Modi said at the rally in a stadium attended by thousands.</div><div><br></div><div>Modi took pride in having cancelled the region’s constitutional special status and inherited protections of land and jobs for its permanent residents, reports AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>He said the former rules and “dynastic politics” had limited the region’s potential.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>