What do you believe is the single most important factor driving up the cost of living in Nigeria?

Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir ­– As Kashmir gears up for the last phase of local elections due on Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to restore the disputed territory’s “statehood” that was stripped five years ago by his Hindu nationalist government.

“We had promised in the parliament that Jammu and Kashmir [official name of Indian-administered Kashmir] will again be a state,” Modi said, addressing a rather dull crowd in Srinagar, the main city in the disputed Muslim-majority territory.

Only the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “will fulfil this commitment”, he said without elaborating further.

Modi’s latest election pitch comes amid widespread anger in Kashmir at the BJP for scrapping the region’s limited autonomy and demoting it into a federally run territory in 2019.

The move is also aimed at blunting attacks from Kashmir-based parties, who have made the restoration of the special status and statehood their main poll agenda.

• Read More