New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah asserted on Saturday that Article 370 is gone for good from the Constitution of India and there is no scope of its inclusion again ever.
“Article 370 is gone for good, and it has no place in our constitution in the future as well,” Shah said during a press conference in Chhattisgarh’s capital when asked about the manifesto of the National Conference.
On August 5, 2019, the Centre effectively revoked Article 370, which bestowed special status to the erstwhile state, and Article 35A, which barred non-locals from buying or owning immovable property in Jammu and Kashmir, settling there permanently, or availing benefits of state-sponsored scholarship schemes.
The constitutional provision acknowledged the special status of the (then-state of Jammu and Kashmir in terms of autonomy and its ability to formulate laws for the state’s permanent residents.
Earlier, on Friday, Shah said Congress has repeatedly “risked” the country’s security and has once again “exposed its ulterior motives” by allying with the National Conference (NC) for the Jammu & Kashmir assembly elections.
Posing 10 questions for the Congress and its Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Shah said on X, “Does the Congress support the National Conference’s promise of a separate flag for Jammu and Kashmir? Do Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party support the JKNC’s decision to restore Article 370 and 35A and thereby push Jammu & Kashmir back into an era of unrest and terrorism? Does the Congress support promoting separatism again by engaging in dialogue with Pakistan instead of Kashmir’s youth?”
He added, “The Congress party, which has repeatedly risked the nation’s unity and security to satiate its greed for power, has once again exposed its ulterior motives by allying with the Abdullah family’s NC in the Jammu & Kashmir elections.”
On Thursday, NC president Farooq Abdullah said his party has finalised an alliance with the Congress for all 90 assembly seats in J&K and added that they were open to also bringing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on board after the elections, indicating the possibility of the three INDIA bloc members coming together in the Union territory’s political arena.
