Jammu and Kashmir: “Removing Article 370 was a tribute to S P Mukherjee’s sacrifice,” Amit Shah

Shyama Prasad Mukherjee gave his life in struggle against Article 370 as he challenged “Ek Desh, Do Nishan, Do Pradhan’’. By abrogating Article 370, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) paid a tribute to Mukherjee and ensured that this changed permanently to “EK Desh, Ek Vidhan, Ek Pradhan’’, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said at a rally in Jammu on Tuesday. He started his 30-minute speech by remembering Mukherjee and Pandit Prem Nath Dogra who had led Praja Parishad.

Shah pointed out that for several decades, those who supported this idea of “Ek Desh, Ek Vidhan, Ek Pradhan’’ suffered in Jammu & Kashmir. Times have changed under Prime Minister Narendra Modi who ended Article 370 at the beginning of his second tenure in August 2029, Shah said. Mocking Dr Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference (NC), Shah said Abdullah used to boast that even if Modi became PM 10 times, he will not be able to touch Article 370.

Targeting Farooq and his son Omar Abdullah, Shah said that the maximum fake encounters used to happen when they led the state. Even the rule of Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was no different in this, Shah added. During Modi’s tenure, no fake encounters took place, terrorism was handled firmly, and it is now gasping as it is about to die finally in J&K. The Abdullahs, the Muftis, and Sonia Gandhi did not work for the people of J&K. Their target was always to promote their own sons & daughters, as they never worked for the masses, Shah said.

Given that these three parties, the NC, the PDP and the Congress, worked only for their family members, people should not vote for them. Any candidates other than of these parties deserved to be backed and blessed with votes, Shah said. He reminded Mehbooba that she had remarked that there would be nobody left to hold the tricolour if Article 370 was tampered with. “Today, Article 370 is buried forever and yet Tiranga is flying high with dignity and honour,’’ Shah said.

He said the BJP has changed the way the youth in J&K behaved at one time. “PM Narendra Modi has ensured that those who had stones as also guns in their hands earlier now have laptops instead,’’ Shah said. This is a significant and positive change his party has brought about in J&K, he said.

The students from J&K used to go out to other states for higher studies. However, students from other states come to Jammu as there are now institutes like IIT, IIM and Central University here, Shah pointed out. “Jammu has made significant progress, and E buses are plying here. We are committed to converting the Suchetgarh border and making it like Attari-Wagah in Punjab. People from all over Bharat go to Suchetgarh now and see the parade by BSF jawans,’’ he said.

Incidentally, Suchetgarh is a border village located 28 km south of Jammu city, and it is just 11 km from Sialkot. It used to face heavy firing from the Pakistani side, and only residents of border villages were allowed to go there and other border areas like Ramgarh earlier. Nowadays, Suchetgarh has emerged as a major tourist attraction, with BSF conducting parades for spectators on Saturday and Sunday evenings.

Shah said that Mukherjee had a dream, a dream that talked of Kashmir and Kanyakumari as one entity. Soon, a train starting from Kanyakumari and going all the way to Kashmir will become a reality, he said. Greeting everyone with Jai Shari Ram, he said it is after 500 years that Shri Ram Bhagwan will celebrate his birthday at his true birthplace in a grand temple on Ramnavmi tomorrow.