Raipur:

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asserted that Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, will never be restored.

Amit Shah’s comments came as Jammu and Kashmir’s two principal regional parties — the National Conference and the PDP — promised in their election manifestoes for upcoming assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir that they would work to restore the controversial provision, scrapped on August 5, 2019.

“Article 370 has no place in Jammu and Kashmir now or ever. It will never be restored,” Amit Shah said at a press conference in the Chhattisgarh capital when asked about it.

The home minister was addressing a press conference here after attending a meeting of top civil and security officials of the Naxal-hit states.

Restoration of Article 370 and Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood as well as implementation of the autonomy resolution passed by the erstwhile assembly in 2000 are among the National Conference’s 12 guarantees announced in its manifesto for the upcoming polls.

“We strive to restore (Articles) 370-35A, and statehood as prior to August 5, 2019,” the NC poll document said.

In June 2000, the National Conference government under Farooq Abdullah passed a resolution in the J-K Assembly seeking to restore the pre-1953 constitutional position in the state.

It was, however, rejected by the Union Cabinet headed by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Article 370 was abrogated by the Narendra Modi government on August 5, 2019, and the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two UTs – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The PDP on Saturday released its manifesto for the Assembly elections, promising to pursue the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir to its “original status”, and advocate for confidence-building measures (CBMs) and regional cooperation between India and Pakistan.

“The PDP is resolute in its pursuit of restoring the constitutional guarantees that were unjustly scrapped, and is committed to restoring Jammu and Kashmir to its original status, ensuring that the voices of its people are heard and their rights are safeguarded,” it said.

The PDP manifesto said the “unconstitutional and illegal revocation” of Articles 370 and 35A in 2019 has “further complicated the Kashmir issue, deepening the alienation felt by the people of the region”.

On Friday, Amit Shah slammed the Congress for its alliance with the National Conference for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls, accusing the party of repeatedly risking the country’s unity and security in its greed for power.

The Congress has once again “exposed its ulterior motives by allying with the Abdullah family’s National Conference,” Amit Shah said.

Posing 10 questions for the Congress and Gandhi, Amit Shah had asked, “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 pushing Jammu and Kashmir back into an era of unrest and terrorism?” The full name of Farooq Abdullah-led party is Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A villager shifts his belongings from a flood affected area to a safer place, at Kaliabor in Nagaon district on July 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on July 15 spoke to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and took stock of the flood situation in the State. The Home Minister also spoke with the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat and inquired about the increased water level in both States.

He also assured the CMs of providing Central assistance as well as support of the National Disaster Response Force to combat the crisis.

Mr. Shah reached out to the Chief Ministers of Assam, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat in separate telephonic conversations to assess the flood situation as well as the surge in water level due to heavy rainfall.

The proactive engagement by the Union Home Minister comes as the Assam flood and the resulting surge in waters continue to affect thousands of people across these States.

The flood situation in Assam remains grim, with the death toll rising to more than 90 as per the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA). More than 5 lakh people across 18 districts are reeling under the deluge, with Assam’s Cachar being the worst-hit district.

The flood-affected districts in Assam include Cachar, Chirang, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Golaghat, Jorhat, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Karimganj, Majuli, Morigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, and Sivasagar.

On the other hand, 1,342 villages under 52 revenue circles are still under water and the flood waters submerged 25367.61 hectares of crop area in Assam.

The water level of the Brahmaputra River is flowing above the danger level mark at Neamatighat, Tezpur and Dhubri while the Burhidihing River is flowing above the danger level mark at Chenimari (Knhowang), Disang River at Nanglamuraghat. Over 58,000 people are still taking shelter in 172 relief camps and distribution centres in 13 districts. 2,83,712 domestic animals were also affected by the deluge.

The situation in Uttar Pradesh, especially in the eastern and central regions, is also under observation after an increase in the water levels of several rivers following incessant rains impacting around 18 lakh people in more than 900 villages.

As per officials, nearly 18 districts, including Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Kushinagar, Shravasti, Balrampur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Barabanki, Sitapur, Gonda Siddharth Nagar, Moradabad, Bareilly and Basti in Uttar Pradesh were affected by increased water level.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath earlier conducted an aerial survey of the affected districts and directed the officials to provide all possible assistance to the affected people.

Due to heavy rain in the Valsad district in Gujarat, many low-lying areas have been inundated, and the national highway was also flooded. Teams from disaster cells were deployed to drain the water from these areas. Additionally, the heavy rains caused the water level in Madhuban Dam to rise.

New Delhi:

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the Modi government’s Kashmir policy has been vindicated by the successful polling in Jammu and Kashmir, where even separatists have voted “overwhelmingly”, as he assured that the assembly elections in the region will be held before September 30.

Once the elections are over, the government will start the process of restoring statehood to the Union Territory, Amit Shah said in an interview to PTI late Saturday.

“I have said in Parliament that we will give the statehood after the assembly elections,” he said, adding that everything is going according to plan, such as the surveys of the backward classes and delimitation exercise of the Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies.

“We have completed the delimitation process. Because the reservation can be given only after the delimitation process is completed. Because we have to know about the status of various castes (to give reservation). That has been done. Lok Sabha election is also over (in Jammu and Kashmir). Next is the assembly election which will also be held. We will complete the process before the Supreme Court deadline,” he said.

On December 11, 2023, the Supreme Court had directed the Election Commission of India to conduct elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 30, 2024.

Commenting on the relatively high polling percentage in the Kashmir valley in the Lok Sabha elections, Amit Shah said he believed that there has been a big change in attitudes there.

“Voting percentage has increased. Some people used to say that people of the valley do not believe in the Indian Constitution. But this election was held under the Indian Constitution because Kashmir’s Constitution is no longer there. It was scrapped. Election was held under Indian Constitution. People who sought a separate country, those who want to go with Pakistan — even they cast their votes overwhelmingly, both at the organisation level as well as individual people,” he said.

Amit Shah said “it was a very big victory for the democracy and a big success of the Narendra Modi government’s Kashmir policy, which it has been pursuing for the last 10 years.” The three seats in the Kashmir valley — Srinagar (38.49 per cent), Baramulla (59.1 per cent) and Anantnag-Rajouri (53 per cent) — have recorded the highest voter turnout “in many decades”, the Election Commission said on Saturday When asked why the BJP did not field any candidate in the Lok Sabha elections in the Kashmir valley, he said the party was still working on strengthening its organisation in the valley.

“We will definitely put up our candidates in future. Our organisation is getting expanded and our organisation is under process of strengthening,” he added.

Asked about the possibility of merger of Pakistan-occuped Kashmir(PoK) with Jammu and Kashmir, Amit Shah said it is his personal belief that PoK could have been part of India in 1947-48, but it got away because of what he said was premature ceasefire by the Jawaharlal Nehru government in the first war with Pakistan over the region.

“Had the ceasefire been declared four days later, PoK would have been with us,” he said, adding that the possible merger of PoK with Jammu Kashmir can only be decided after lots of serious discussions.

“Because this is an issue which is very important for the country,” he said.

He pointed out that the merger of PoK is part of BJP’s manifesto.

“Besides, there was a Parliamentary resolution on it … unanimous resolution. The Congress party may not realise that they have also voted for it,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the government has taken decisive steps to tackle Maoism and the country will be free of the problem in the next two to three years.

In an exclusive interview with news agency ANI, Amit Shah said that efforts made by the BJP-led government has led to welfare schemes reaching those tribal areas which had remained bereft of them.

He said Jharkhand, Bihar, Telangana, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are completely free of Maoism and the problem persists in three-four districts of Chhattisgarh.

“I think that in the next 2-3 years, the country will be completely free of Naxal issue. After the BJP government came to power in Chhattisgarh, within just 4.5 months, 112 naxals have been neutralised, around 375 have surrendered and 153 have been arrested…On the contrary, Congress says that fake encounters are being done,” he said.

Asked about his remark that the BJP is getting 270 seats after four phases of Lok Sabha polls, Amit Shah said he believes that elections and the results of elections have great importance.

“Whatever government is elected, it should get support from every part of the country and the government should be stable and have a full majority…I believe that the opposition, as usual, has tried to politicise our ‘400 paar slogan’, which is their short-sightedness. Stable governments give strength to the country, help in taking decisive steps, providing welfare to the poor, crushing internal security threats like terrorism, Naxalism and in changing the country’s agenda and the country’s position in the world,” he said.

He slammed the opposition parties for trying to mislead people over BJP’s ‘400 paar’ slogan for the party-led NDA.

“…It has been very clearly explained that if our aim was to remove reservation, we would have the majority for 10 years, but we did not do that. As far as reservation for Muslims is concerned, I am still of the opinion that there should be no reservation in this country on the basis of religion, it is not the scheme of the Constitution, the Constitution does not agree with it. Bharatiya Janata Party will not provide reservation on the basis of religion.”

On the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), he said it is mentioned in the party’s manifesto for Lok Sabha polls.

“This is certainly an important issue in our ‘Sankalp Patra’. We will bring UCC…We also want to bring ‘One Nation, One Election’. This too should be discussed. One of our important poll issues is that in the days to come, we will not allow personal laws to come,” he said.

He dismissed apprehension in sections of Western media about India heading towards autocracy if BJP gets a large number of seats in the Lok Sabha polls.

“Friends abroad need not worry so much about us. Our country is mature enough, our voters are mature enough. There have been several changes in the government in this country without the spilling of even one drop of blood…Autocracy can never come to our country. Our Constitution has provided for such a beautiful balance of power that autocracy can never come here,” he said.

He targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the context of Congress guarantees. Amit Shah said he had recently visited Congress-ruled Telangana and women were still awaiting their Rs 12,000, farmers were waiting for waiving of Rs 2 Lakh loan and young girls for their scooties.

“I called it ‘Chinese guarantee’ on the basis of their durability…I was in Telangana recently. Women there are still awaiting their Rs 12,000. Farmers there are waiting for the waiving off Rs 2 Lakh loan. The young girls are waiting for their scooties…This was promised by Rahul Gandhi, it was his guarantee. Look for Rahul Gandhi…That is why I say that those guarantees hold no meaning. They say that during elections and then forget about it,” Shah said.

Four phases of Lok Sabha polls have been held and the voting in all seven phases will conclude on June 1. The results will be declared on June 4.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said before the sowing operation, tur farmers can register on the portal to sell their produce to NAFED and NCCF at MSP. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Thursday urged farmers to cultivate pulses on a large scale to reduce dependency on imports. He assured them that the two cooperatives, the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF) would procure produce at a minimum support price or the market price. 

Mr. Shah inaugurated a tur dal procurement portal through which farmers can register and sell their produce to NAFED and NCCF. A similar facility will be launched in future for urad and masoor farmers as well as maize farmers, he said.

The Minister also transferred via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) about ₹68 lakh to 25 farmers towards payment for sale of tur via the portal.

After the launch, the Minister said that before the sowing operation, tur farmers can register on the portal to sell their produce to NAFED and NCCF.

The country is still dependent on the import of some varieties of pulses except for chana and moong, the Minister said. “By December 2027, the country should become self-reliant in pulses. We will not import even one kilo of pulses from January 2028,” he added.

He said that with this beginning, in the coming days, the prosperity of farmers, and the self-reliance of the country in the production of pulses, and nutrition campaigns, will be strengthened. “With this, our campaign of crop pattern changing will gain momentum and there will also be changes in the areas of land reform and water conservation,” he said.

“Pulses are also an important crop for land reclamation because the cultivation of pulses increases the quality of the land. He also said that pulses production requires less water and the falling groundwater level in many parts of the country remains a matter of concern for our future. If the groundwater level is to be maintained and increased, then such crops will have to be selected whose production requires less water,” the Minister said.