Article 370 gave rise to separatism and terrorism, while a ”new and developed Kashmir” free from violence is being built under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah said in Rajya Sabha on Monday and stressed that statehood would be restored to Jammu and Kashmir at an appropriate time.
He also blamed the country’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru for the Kashmir problem, pointing to the ”mistakes” of ordering an ”untimely” ceasefire and taking the issue to the United Nations.
Speaking in Rajya Sabha hours after the Supreme Court upheld the abrogation of Article 370, Shah hailed the Monday verdict as historic and said there will now be only ”one Constitution, one national flag and one prime minister”.
He attacked the opposition, saying it is unable to see the change on the ground in Jammu and Kashmir after the scrapping of Article 370 and claimed the entire country has understood that it was first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s ”mistakes” on Kashmir that led to the suffering of people of J-K. ”Everyone knows that J-K’s accession to India was delayed as one person was given this task and that gave Pakistan an opportunity to attack Kashmir. ”Had ceasefire not happened, there would have been no PoK,” he said.
Asserting that the BJP will not show any large-heartedness when it comes to parting with even an inch of the country’s land, he said that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) was an integral part of India and no one can snatch it. ”Prime Minister Modi, myself, the entire cabinet and our party will not run away from owning responsibility for abrogating Article 370 in J-K,” Shah said in the Rajya Sabha.