Blitz Bureau
SRINAGAR: Unveiling the manifesto on September 7 for the upcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister Amit Shah has ruled out the restoration of Article 370, which granted special status to the erstwhile state, and said the provision has now “become history”.
The Home Minister that there will be no talks with Pakistan until lasting peace is established in Jammu and Kashmir.
He added that statehood will be restored at the appropriate time, after the Assembly elections. Sounding the BJP’s poll bugle, he criticised the National Conference (NC) for advocating talks with Pakistan in its manifesto.
In a sharp critique of the NC-Congress alliance for claiming they will restore statehood to J&K, he said, “Perhaps Rahul Baba and Omar are unaware of my August 5, 2019 speech, where I clearly stated that statehood will be restored to J&K after the elections, at an appropriate time.”
Targeting Rahul and Omar, the HM said he wonders how they plan to get back statehood. “Can they clarify? It’s only the Narendra Modi-led Government that has the authority to restore statehood to J&K,” he said.
Challenging them on the reservation for Gujjar-Bakerwal and Dalit communities, he said, “No power can touch this reservation.”
He said this is the first election where only one flag, one Constitution and one Prime Minister.
He said PM Modi stands as one for the entire nation. “From Kanyakumari to Kashmir, there is only one PM, and that is Narendra Modi,” he said. He urged BJP workers to come with their families on voting day and finish voting well in time. Shah asked BJP cadres to take a pledge to vote against the Abdullahs, Muftis, and Gandhis. He also raised the slogan: “Jahan huye balidan Mukherji, wo Kashmiri hamara hai” (Where Mukherji sacrificed his life, that Kashmir belongs to us).
He said that the NC-Congress alliance will never form the government, adding that they “can read the writing on the wall.” Targeting the PDP for supporting crossLoC trade, the minister said the profits from such trade would go straight into the pockets of “terror mentors.”
