Article 370 is history, buried forever: Amit Shah

Emphasising that ‘Article 370 is part of history and will never come back’, Union Home Minister Amit Shah released the BJP’s manifesto for the Jammu and Kashmir elections with a pledge to “wipe out terrorism and separatism” from the Union Territory.

Referring to the National Conference’s poll manifesto that calls for the restoration of Article 370, Mr. Shah reiterated, “Article 370 has been buried forever. The BJP won’t allow the efforts aimed at its restoration. It will not come back.”

Mr. Shah questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s stance on the NC’s manifesto, given that the two parties are allies. “Mr. Rahul must explain as to whether he and his party supports the NC manifesto. It promises restoration of Article 370, release of stone pelters and prisoners involved in promoting secessionism. I want to ask Rahul, do he and his party want the revival of terrorism and separatism in J&K?” he asked.

Releasing the manifesto on Friday, Amit Shah said that the union territory shifted from "max terrorism to max tourism" in 10 years. Commending BJP for its work in the Kashmir valley, Shah said the party demolished the terror ecosystem.

"Terrorism and separatism continued in Jammu and Kashmir till 2014, and different state and non-state actors continued to destabilise the region. Besides, all other government did politics of appeasement to deal with the situation in Jammu and Kashmir," she said.