Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday dedicated the government’s “historic” decision of withdrawing the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his birth anniversary and asserted that the Centre had fulfilled Patel’s dream of full integration of J&K to India.
Paying glowing tributes to Sardar Patel at the Statue of Unity built by the Gujarat government on an island on the Narmada river near the Sardar Sarovar dam at Kevadia, Mr. Modi said that by abrogating Kashmir’s special status under Article 370, Patel’s dream of unifying India was now complete.
“The country took the decision of abrogation of [special status to J&K under] Article 370, which had only given separatism and terrorism to that State and over 40,000 people lost their lives in three decades of terrorism,” he asserted, adding that it was Patel who had inspired him to take the decision to dilute Article 370 and that he was dedicating the decision “at the feet of” the first Home Minister of the country.
Comparing the move on Article 370 with the act of destroying a wall, Mr. Modi said the ‘temporary wall’ between Indians and those living on the other side had been brought down.
While lauding the Congress leader for his efforts at integrating the hundreds of princely States after independence, Mr. Modi also took a swipe at the country’s first Prime Minister Jawarharlal Nehru, indirectly blaming Nehru for the way Jammu and Kashmir had been handled.
“Patel had once said that had he handled the Kashmir issue, it would not have taken so long to resolve it,” Mr. Modi asserted, obliquely implying that the issue had not been resolved for long since Nehru had handled it directly after independence.
Without naming Pakistan, the Prime Minister warned that those who tried challenging the country’s unity would never succeed in defeating the country and its ‘unity in diversity’.
“Unity in diversity is our pride and our identity, the world is surprised by our unity despite so much diversity,” Mr. Modi said, adding “some elements are trying to destroy the unity in diversity of India by spreading separatism and terrorism, but even after trying for centuries, nobody could annihilate us or defeat us”.
The new system in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, both now Union Territories after the State was bifurcated following the dilution of Article 370 in August, was not meant to draw a line on the land or create a boundary but to build a strong link of trust between the government and the people of both regions, according to Mr. Modi.
The Prime Minister also announced that, as promised by the government in August, government employees of Jammu and Kashmir would be treated on par with other government employees and that the 7th Pay Commission’s scales had come into force from Thursday, when the State’s bifurcation into two Union Territories had taken effect.
He added that with the ‘new beginning’, the Kashmir valley would see new development with political stability.
Referring to the recently held block development elections, Mr. Modi asserted that the local elections would bring in political stability in the region and that the Valley would get new highways, railways and hospitals.
