Union Home Minister Amit Shah Wednesday said that Article 370 was responsible for 45000 killings in J&K and only BJP showed its will to remove something that was “temporary in nature.”
“The Article 370 was responsible for the killing of 45000 people. I am stating this with full responsibility on the floor of the house,” Shah said while replying to the discussion on two bills— Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2023 introduced by him in the Parliament on December 5.
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He said that everybody was convinced with the fact that Article 370 was a “temporary provision” in the constitution but nobody even took a step to remove it. “On August 5, 2019, Prime Minister Narendera Modi led government decided to remove this temporary article once for all,” Shah said amid thumping of tables by his party colleagues. Replying to a point raised by some opposition leaders that BJP by removing the Article 370 did “Vada Khilafi”, Shah replied: “Koi wada khilafi nahi…..we did what others failed to do in past 70 years.”
Stating that he never made any comment like by rolling back the Article 370, separatism and terrorism will completely end in J&K. “I stick to what I stated here. The fact is that I stated rolling back the Article 370 will bring down separatism and terrorism to all time low. And this has happened,” he said, adding that “We have rolled out zero terror plan and I am hopeful that the BJP government will come again in power in 2024 and by 2026 zero terror plan will be implemented in full.”
About BJP founder Shyama Prasad Mukherji’s slogan of Ek Vidhan, Ek Pradhan, Ek Nishan, the Home Minister said that this actually wasn’t a political slogan but what a nation is all about. “How can a country have two flags and two constitutions….,” Shah asked. He said earlier, the Assembly in J&K was for six years, but now it will be for five years as in other parts of the country. The Home Minister said that there was time when unfurling of tri-colour was nearly impossible at Lal Chowk, Srinagar but today, every house in J&K unfurls Tiranga and every religious festival is celebrated with fervour at Lal Chowk.
