NEW DELHI, Feb 13: The union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday claimed that the Narendra Modi government had taken more positive steps for the development of Jammu and Kashmir in the last 17 months than in the last 70 years rule by the Congress and other parties and said the statehood to the region would be restored at an “appropriate time.”
Replying to a discussion on the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha, Shah slammed the opposition members who concluded that the bill was meant to negate restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. Claiming that the region’s union territory status was only a temporary measure, the minister assured the House that statehood would be restored to it at an appropriate time. “This bill has nothing to do with statehood of Jammu and Kashmir,” he insisted.
Shah said the Modi government has done more for Jammu and Kashmir since Article 370 was scrapped in August 2019 than those who ruled it for generations, as he reeled out statistics to assert that its development has been the government’s top priority.
The House later passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, which has already been passed by the Rajya Sabha. A bill to merge the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) cadre of all-India services officers with the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre was passed by the Lok Sabha on Saturday by a voice vote.
Taking a swipe at the Congress and other parties which had backed Article 370 of the Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Shah said the article was supposed to be a temporary measure but these parties continued with it for over 70 years before the Modi government annulled it in August 2019.
Jammu and Kashmir has been a top priority for the current government since it took power in 2014, he said.
Decentralisation and devolution of power have taken place in the union territory following the revocation of Article 370, Mr. Shah said, noting that panchayat elections saw over 51 per cent voting. Panchayats have been given administrative and financial powers for local development, something they lacked earlier, he added.
“Now people chosen by the masses will rule Jammu and Kashmir, not those born to ‘kings and queens,’ he said attacking dynastic parties in the region.
Giving an account of the developmental works being carried out in the region, Shah said work on two AIIMS in the region has begun, and the Kashmir Valley will be connected to the railways by 2022.
He also gave the assurance to the people of Jammu and Kashmir that “no one will lose their land”. The government has sufficient land for development works he said and added that the government expected that around 25,000 government jobs would be created in Jammu and Kashmir by 2022.
He requested not to politicise J-K and Ladakh. “If you want a political fight, come in the ring & let’s compete. Nobody is scared. It’s (J-K & Ladakh) a sensitive part of our country. They have been hurt and have doubts. This House’s responsibility is to comfort them, not scrape their wounds,” Shah said.
Shah said the youths of Jammu and Kashmir would get better opportunity to join the all-India service cadres. Had the schools not been torched, the children of Kashmir would have also become IAS (Indian Administrative Service) and IPS (Indian Police Service) today, he said.
Shah said the government provided ₹13,000 per month to families of 44,000 Kashmiri Pandits who have relief cards. The government also provides free ration.
The biggest hurdle in the industry in Jammu and Kashmir was that they did not get land if they wanted to set up any industry there. “After the withdrawal of 370, we changed the law of the land. Now the situation is such that the industries will be established inside Kashmir,” he pointed out.
(Manas Dasgupta)