Twitter
Advertisement

Maharashtra assembly polls: Amit Shah pitches Article 370 move as referendum on Modi govt

Asserts Fadnavis will come back as chief minister

Latest News
article-main
Amit Shah and CM Fadnavis at Nesco complex in the city on Sunday
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

Pitching the Maharashtra assembly polls as a referendum on the Narendra Modi government's abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution which conferred special status on Jammu and Kashmir, BJP president Amit Shah asserted confidently that Devendra Fadnavis would continue as the chief minister after the elections.

The union home minister said Prime Minister Modi had "shaken the foundations" of family-run parties.

He also attacked the Congress and its former president Rahul Gandhi for putting vote bank politics over national interest, and claimed that between August 5, when the decision on Jammu and Kashmir was taken, and September 22, "no bullet had been fired in Kashmir and no one had died."

HITTING HOME

  • Amit Shah sounded the bugle for state polls with BJP’s ‘Jan Sampark Abhiyaan’ over abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A
     
  • EC has announced that the single-phase Maha elections for the 288-member assembly will be held on Oct 21 
     
  • The counting of votes will be done on October 24

Shah said even after the move, the people of Kashmir were continuing with their normal lives and thus far 99% landlines and 67% mobiles had been restored and curfew had been removed with trade going on normally.

"I will tell the people of Maharashtra, you have an opportunity to make it clear if you are in favour of those who abrogated Article 370, or those who opposed it. This is the first election after the scrapping of Article 370. There are two parties here. One, the BJP and its allies, which consider Bharat Mata supreme, and on the other hand, the Congress and NCP, which consider the families controlling them as being supreme. The people of Maharashtra have to decide if they will go with nationalist parties or family-run ones," said Shah, who was speaking in Mumbai on Sunday. He added that the electorate had to show parties opposing the decision "their place."

Shah said these scrapped sections of the Constitution had "affected the integration of Kashmir with India" and "the integrity of India." Lashing out at the Congress for treating Kashmir as a political issue, the home minister said for the BJP, this issue was linked to patriotism and the stability of India.

Blaming first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for internationalising the Kashmir dispute and calling for a ceasefire while the Indian Army was in the midst of driving out Pakistani tribal raiders and soldiers, Shah said this led to the creation of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

"You (Congress) wanted power and a vote bank. Rahul baba, it is pricking our hearts and conscience that 40,000 people have died due to terrorism. Article 370 was used by Pakistan to sow terrorism in Kashmir," said Shah, while attacking Gandhi and the NCP for opposing the move.

He added that "only three families" were ruling Kashmir and were misusing the provision for corruption. The system had embezzled public money and had not even allowed the institution of an anti-corruption bureau (ACB). "Now, there is an ACB... and the corrupt are perspiring even in the winter of Kashmir," he charged.

Shah referred to Fadnavis as the "chief minister of Maharashtra who will be the chief minister post-elections." In an apparent taunt to NCP chief and former union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who had stated that only a Pulwama-like situation could help the BJP win in Maharashtra, Shah said the BJP was sure to win anyhow. "In Maharashtra, the NDA government will come to power with a three-fourths majority," he claimed.

The home minister said that because of Articles 370 and 35A, laws like the anti-atrocities act and reservation for weaker sections like scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs) and other backward classes (OBCs), could not be applied in the former state of J&K.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement