Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said preparations had started to conduct Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and the day was not far when its statehood would be restored.

Modi, on a two-day visit to Kashmir for an event related to the International Day of Yoga and for the inauguration of development projects, said his government was trying “to bridge the distance between Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir” and “ensure a connection of hearts”.

“The people of Jammu and Kashmir elect their representatives at the local level. You find ways to solve your problems through them and what can be better than this? Now the preparations for the Assembly elections have also started,” he told a crowd at Srinagar’s Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Centre.

“The time is not far when you will elect a new government of Jammu and Kashmir with your votes. That day will also come soon when Jammu and Kashmir will once again make its future better as a state.”

Jammu and Kashmir has been without an Assembly since 2018. It lost its statehood in 2019. Modi said Jammu and Kashmir had changed for the better after the abrogation of Article 370.