Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday that he had no confusion whatsoever in his mind on the need to remove the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and added that its abrogation would end terrorism in the region and put it on the road to development.
Mr. Shah was speaking in Chennai at an event to release a book Listening, Learning & Leading… published by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry chronicling the two-year tenure of Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu.
Mr Shah said he firmly believed that there was no benefit from Article 370 to the nation and to Kashmir and that it should be removed at once.
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“As a Home Minister, there was no confusion at all in my mind as to what would happen after the removal of Article 370. I was sure that after the removal of Article 370, terrorism will end inside Kashmir and the State would be on the path of development,” he said.
However, referring to national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand’s speech in which he illustrated how people even now referred to the (problematic) bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Shah said, “I had a slight apprehension in my mind that I should not be a part of such visualisation.”
The Minister said he had been anxious on how the Bill would be taken up in Rajya Sabha, where the BJP did not have a majority, but Mr Naidu had taken the Bill through voting and even in division.
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Mr Naidu backed the Minister, saying the decision on ending the special status was in the interest of the nation, for its future, security and safety.
Mr. Naidu said: “I can say, as a Vice-President, with a considerable experience in public life, now that the Parliament has voted it also, we should all think in terms of national interest than party interest.”
“[Article] 370 should not be treated as a political issue but it should be treated as a national issue that Kashmir is an integral part of India. Whatever problems are there, we should all stand by the people of Kashmir and assure their feelings and see to it that steps are taken for restoring normalcy and for implementing developmental and welfare agenda at the earliest,” he said.
PM-Shah like Krishna and Arjuna: Rajinikanth
Commending the BJP government for abrogating the special status for Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil actor Rajinikanth equated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Shah as the Krishna-Arjuna combination in the Mahabharata. “We do not know who is Arjuna and Krishna in them. Only they will know,” he said.
Congratulating Mr Shah for what he called “Mission Kashmir operations”, he said, “Hats off!” He also hailed Mr. Shah’s speech in Parliament as “fantastic” and added, “Now people will come to know who is Amit Shah. I'm happy about that!”