Highlighting the importance of the abrogation of Article 370, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday that it is after its revocation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership that a new era of development began in the Kashmir valley which was hampered due to terrorism.
Union Minister Amit Shah (Photo: X/@AmitShah )
Highlighting the importance of the abrogation of Article 370, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday that it is after its revocation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership that a new era of development began in the Kashmir valley which was hampered due to terrorism.
Shah, while speaking at the launch of a book named “Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh: Through the Ages”, said people often asked him what was the connection between Article 370 and terrorism, to which he said that they were not aware that it was this status that attempted to sow the seeds of separatism in the minds of the valley’s youth.
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He claimed that after the abrogation of Article 370, terror incidents have reduced by 70 per cent. The Union home minister pointed out that in 2018, there were 2100 incidents of stone-pelting while in 2024, no such incident was reported.
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He added that Panchayati Raj has now set its roots deeper in the valley which is evident from the record voting during the recent Lok Sabha and Assembly elections this time since the past 33 years.
Shah also shared that around 324 serials and films were shot in Kashmir during 2024, something similar to what used to happen in the sixties.
The HM said while there are minority populations in different parts of the country but none faced terrorism. Responding to the argument that Kashmir faced terrorism because it shared border with Pakistan, he said states like Rajasthan and Gujarat too share border with the same neighbouring country but did not have terrorism.
He further said that it was the Article 370 that spread an illusion about the connection between India and Kashmir was ‘temporary’ which had laid the foundation of separatism that later turned into terrorism. He called it painfully disappointing that around 40,000 lives were lost due to terrorism while the development of the valley was derailed.
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