Srinagar: The tricolour flutters everywhere in Srinagar these days — from marathon start-lines to college amphitheatres and manicured parks. Each week brings a new event celebrating “national integration,” “Nasha Mukt Bharat,” or “Viksit Bharat Sankalp.” But behind the patriotic banners and selfies lies a quiet industry — one that’s minting money from the politics of spectacle.

Official sources said in the past few years, several NGOs and private firms have received government contracts worth crores to organise these “outreach” events across Kashmir. Many of them were incorporated after 2019, when the Union government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and launched an aggressive “normalcy” campaign.

These entities are routinely assigned marathons, music shows, Tiranga rallies and

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