New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday outlined his vision for a new, developed and prosperous Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh even as he hit out at “a handful” of people and separatists for attempting to play into Pakistan’s hands to spoil the situation in the wake of the revocation of Article 370 granting special status to J&K.
Addressing the nation for the first time after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of J&K into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh — Modi promissed free, fair and transparent elections to the J&K Assembly.
The Prime Minister also said that Kashmir was the crown of India and the new moves on Kashmir signified the dawn of a new era.
Modi said that revoking Article 370 was a very well thought out move aimed to bring development to J&K and undo the decades of neglect.
Choosing to ignore Islamabad’s retaliatory moves such as expelling the Indian envoy, the Prime Minister did not mention the neighbouring country except for referring to it as a source of fomenting trouble and encouraging separatism through Article 370.
He promised that with the creation of two UTs of J&K and Ladakh, all vacant posts in government jobs would be filled up, which would create employment opportunities for the youth in the region.
“We have taken a historic decision on Jammu and Kashmir,” the PM said, adding that Article 370 and Article 35-A “did not give anything” to the state and its people except separatism, terrorism, family rule and large scale corruption.
He said that Pakistan used Article 370 and 35A as a weapon to instigate the feelings of some people against the country, and that the two articles gave Jammu and Kashmir people nothing but separatism, terrorism and huge corruption.
He said at least 42,000 people were killed due to misuse of these articles.
“This figure is enough to bring tears in eyes of anyone,” he said.
Modi said the development of Jammu and Kashmir could not happen in that speed which was the right of the region that has now been bifurcated, after Parliament’s approval on Monday, in two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir with an Assembly and Ladakh without one.
“With the betterment of current system, not only the present of the people of Jammu and Kashmir will improve but also their future will go into new direction,” he said.
The Prime Minister assured that any problem of people of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh was his own and the Centre would be with them in their happy as well as sad moments.
He said that Article 370 had deprived the people of J&K of the benefits of well-argued and well thought out central legislation meant for the entire country. “No one can imagine that the Parliament brings out so many legislation, but they are just not applicable to one part of the country,” he said.
Taking pot shots at the Congress over the RTI and RTE, he said that earlier a government would make legislation and “roll in self-praise” but could not ensure that these legislation would be applicable to the over 1.5 crore residents of J&K.
The Prime Minister appealed to all the deprived sections in the former state, like the SC and ST, the Safai Karamcharis and the minority communities who were kept out of the ambit of Central legislation.
Talking of the Right To Education (RTE) Act, he asked why were the children of the state deprived of its benefits. The people were deprived of the benefits of the Safai Karmachari Act as well as the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The Minority Act was also not applicable as well as the Minimum Wages act, he said.
He said that Article 370 also prevented the SC and ST communities from reaping the benefits of reservation in jobs and education.
“With Article 370 becoming history, I have full confidence that J&K will come out of its negative effects too,” he said.
The Prime Minister said that over the decades, no one could justify how Article 370 and Article 35-A benefited the people of the state.
Modi also said that state government employees, including the police, would soon get benefits on par with employees of other Union Territories such as LTA and house rent allowance, among others.
The Prime Minister said that while he respected the opinions of those who objected the Kashmir move, he requested that they should keep the national interest supreme.
Promising elections in J&K, he said: “We all want that in future J&K Assembly elections take place, a new government is formed, new energetic youth become MLAs, ministers and Chief Minister. I assure the people of J&K that with all honesty and in a transparent atmosphere, you will get an opportunity to elect your representatives soon,” Modi said.
Modi also said that the dreams of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, BR Ambedkar, Syama Prasad Mookerjee and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajapyee have been fulfilled with the abrogation of Article 370.
He said that some things in society life get so mixed up with time that many a times they are considered permanent.
“There was a similar sentiment with Article 370. There was no discussion about the loss of our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Surprisingly, if we talked to anyone, no one could even tell what was the benefit of Article 370 in the lives of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister also promised to boost tourism, make Kashmir an international film shooting destination, make its apples, shawls, kahwa and saffron globally famous and promote adventure tourism.