Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that removal of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution will lead to end of terrorism and progress of the region.
Speaking at the launch of "Listening, Learning and Leading", a book that chronicles Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu's two years in office in Chennai, Shah said he firmly believed that Article 370 that gave the special status to Jammu and Kashmir should be removed as it was not beneficial to the country.
"I was firm that Article 370 should be removed.... after (scrapping) Article 370, terrorism in Kashmir will end and it will progress on the path of development," he said.
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Shah also spoke on the Vice President's link with Article 370. "As a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Naidu had protested against Article 370. A professor asked him whether he had seen Kashmir. To this, Naidu retorted that even the two eyes in our face do not see each other. But when one gets hurt, tears roll down from the other," he said.
Crediting the Vice President for the clearance of the bill to revoke Article 370, Shah said he was a bit apprehensive about moving it first in the Rajya Sabha. "It was due to Naidu's leadership that the bill got passed there," Shah said.
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Vice President Naidu backed the scrapping of special status under Article 370 to Jammu and Kashmir, saying it was the need of the hour.
The issue should also be seen from the national perspective and people of the country should stand with their counterparts in J&K, he said, "abrogation of Article 370 is the need of the hour... it is in the interest of the nation for its safety and security."
(With inputs from Agencies)
