Amit Shah moves two key bills on J&K in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday moved two Bills in Lok Sabha -- the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill have been taken up together for consideration in the Lok Sabha.

Around four hours had been initially set apart for the discussion.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur said: "Earlier there were stone-pelting incidents in Kashmir. Today, there are no such incidents. Today, not only at Lal Chowk but the Indian flag is hoisted in every lane in Kashmir."

While deliberating upon the two amendment Bills on reorganisation and reservation in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress MP Manish Tewari questioned the constitutionality of repealing Articles 370 and 35A.

The Congress MP recalled the President's Proclamation released in 2018 and pointed out a clause which referred to the termination of Sections 1 and 2 of Article 3 of the Constitution.

Tewari alleged that the idea of repealing Article 370 was incorporated in the Proclamation leading up to the President's Rule in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Responding to the remarks, Home Minister Amit Shah said the clause in the Proclamation was a necessary step as passing the state's budget would only be possible then at a time when the state's legislative assembly stood dissolved.

Tewari responded to this saying Article 3 does not talk about the functioning of the state assembly rather it only talks about the reorganisation of the territory.

Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy raised questions on the revocation of the Article 370 and 35A which led to the formation of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Roy asked the government about the outcomes after the Articles were repealed. The Trinamool Congress MP from West Bengal's Dum Dum also complained that the situation of people in Jammu and Kashmir has not improved since.

Shah during discussion on the J&K Bills in Lok Sabha said: "How can a country have two Prime Ministers, two Constitutions and two flags? Those who did this, they did wrong. Prime Minister Narendra Modi corrected it. We have been saying that there should be 'Ek Pradhan, Ek Nishan, Ek Vidhan' (One Prime Minister, one flag and one Constitution) in the country, and we did it."

He was speaking on remarks made by Roy on the J&K Bills.

NCP (Sharad Pawar) faction MP Supriya Sule, amid the Maratha quota agitation in Maharashtra, asked for a discussion on pan-India reservation.

She was speaking amid the deliberations on the two J&K amendment bills, one of which talks about reservation for the people of the union territory.

She also remembered late BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj for their contributions to Indian politics.

"Today, I miss Arun Jaitely and Sushma Swaraj... they were the only BJP leaders who advocated for the cooperative federalism," Sule said.