The day began early for thousands of Jammu and Kashmir government employees as they faced an unlikely assignment — to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at Srinagar’s Bakshi Stadium, waking up hours before the crack of dawn to make themselves available for the event.

Parts of Srinagar city were literally converted into a fortress to ensure an incident-free rally. No traffic — barring vehicles with permission to move — was allowed into the city centre or into a large area around the stadium.

It was the Prime Minister’s first public rally in Kashmir after the 2019 scrapping of special status. Almost his entire speech revolved around topics such as alleged corruption in Jammu and Kashmir Bank in yesteryears, agriculture, tourism and a slew of development projects.

Modi said the feeling of arriving in “heaven on earth” cannot be put into words, expressing gratitude to those who joined in large numbers. He claimed the region was touching new heights after the scrapping of Article 370.

“Modi will not leave any stone unturned to repay this debt of affection. I am doing all this hard work to win your hearts and I believe that I am on the right path. I will continue my efforts to win your hearts. This is Modi’s guarantee and all of you know that Modi’s guarantee means the guarantee of fulfilment of guarantee,” he told the crowd.

Searing political issues like restoration of statehood and elections, which find resonance even with the BJP, found no mention. It is perhaps the first time in decades that Jammu and Kashmir has hardly had any democratic space as elections to the Assembly, municipalities and panchayats remain on hold.

None of these issues, however, appeared to have been an immediate concern for the at least 7,000 government employees from different departments, including education, social welfare, agriculture, rural development and the Srinagar Municipality directed to turn up at the venue and boost the numbers.

In addition, there were hundreds of daily wagers who work for the government and were informally told to attend the rally. There was also a big component of BJP supporters and other civilians who had come from far-off places like Uri.

“I woke up around 4am and started on foot in pitch dark along with some other daily wagers to Bandipora, some 5km away, where buses were ready to drop us in Srinagar. We reached the stadium around 9.30am,” a daily wager in the government’s Jal Shakti department told The Telegraph. His village is around 70km from Srinagar

An employee in the National Rural Livelihood Mission and a mother of two young kids said they had strict directions not to miss the event.

“Some of us woke up at 3am, some at 4am. It was like daytime before dawn on Srinagar’s roads as there were so many vehicles moving towards the venue. Some went in their vehicles, others in buses provided by the government at many pick-up points,” she said.

Government employees, mostly teachers, are being regularly tasked in Kashmir to join programmes that showcase the “all is well” narrative.

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah had claimed on Wednesday evening that none of the people joining Modi’s rally were doing so “on their own will”.

“The dictatorial J&K govt has pulled out all stops to give the PM a crowd because the BJP can’t manage anything in J&K without the administration. Employees, men & women both, in their 1000s are being asked to assemble between 4:30 AM & 5:30 AM in the freezing temperatures to be bused to the venue. This participation isn’t optional, it’s compulsory,” Omar wrote on X.

Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, however, claimed the stadium was full, with 35,000 sitting in the stands and another 25,000 sitting in chairs.

“The way the people of Kashmir have come to listen to you (Modi), attracted by your love, you will find the place with people. The adjoining indoor stadium is also full…. If there was a stadium with two-lakh capacity, it would have overflown with people,” he said.