"Cradled Article 370 like a baby for 70 years": Amit Shah tears into Cong over handling of J-K issue

MAHARASHTRA: In an unsparing attack on the Congress over its alleged handling of the Jammu and Kashmir issue and not settling it decisively during its decades in power at the Centre, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the grand old party held on to Article 370 and 'cradled' it like a baby on a mother's lap till the Centre, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, revoked it on August 5, 2019.

Addressing an election rally at Akola in Maharashtra, Shah also came down heavily on Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge for questioning PM Modi's invocation of the scrapping of Article 370 from the erstwhile state during a rally in Rajasthan.

"Kharge-ji questioned what the people of Maharashtra and Rajasthan have to do with Kashmir. Kharge Saheb, perhaps, does not know that every youth of Akola cares as much about Jammu and Kashmir as the people in the Union Territory themselves, and are even prepared to lay down their lives for it. It was Modi-ji, who paved the way for making Kashmir an integral part of the country after making Article 370 history. The Congress, as we all know, kept cradling and safeguarding Article 370 for the last 70 years and it wasn't until you elected Modi-ji as PM for the second time, that it was consigned to history," Shah said, invoking the landmark scrapping of the Article, as part of which certain constitutional safeguards and privileges were vested in the erstwhile state.

In a veiled counter to Opposition claims that the BJP-led NDA will bring changes to the Constitution if elected for a third time by a brute majority, Shah said despite securing a decisive mandate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Centre used it to remove Article 370 from the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state as opposed to ringing changes to the country's salient statute book.

Through the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 in Parliament, Article 370, which gave special constitutional privileges to the erstwhile state, ceased to exist.

The state of Jammu and Kashmir was split and reorganised into two UTs--Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh--in August 2019.

Also taking aim at the Congress over its approach to dealing with external security threats while in power, the Union Home Minister said the grand old party chose not to respond to misadventures from across the border, in Pakistan, for the sake of safeguarding its 'vote bank'.

"Under the Sonia-Manmohan Singh government, Pakistan would carry out attacks against us every day and they remained unmoved for the sake of advancing their vote bank politics. When Pulwama and Uri were attacked, after the BJP came to power, we responded in 10 days. Under the leadership of PM Modi, we crossed over into Pakistan and launched surgical and air strikes on terror launch pads and hideouts in Pakistan. Modi-ji also eliminated the threat of Naxalism from Maharashtra," he said.

He said while India ranked 11th among major economies under the Congress, PM Modi made it the fifth-largest major economy. "If you bring him back as PM for a third time, he will make us the third-biggest global economy," Shah added.

Eight Lok Sabha constituencies of Maharashtra will go to polls in the second phase on April 26. In the first phase on April 19, polling was held in Ramtek, Nagpur, Bhandara - Gondiya, Gadchiroli - Chimur, and Chandrapur.

In the second phase, voting will be held in Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Wardha, Yavatmal-Washim, Hingoli, Nanded, and Parbhani.

The NDA--BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena--won 7 of these 8 seats in 2019. The BJP bagged Akola, Wardha, and Nanded, while the Sena won Buldhana, Yavatmal-Washim, Hingoli, and Parbhani.

Navneet Rana, who is now with the BJP, won Amravati in 2019 as an Independent and is seeking a fresh term from the seat this year on a saffron ticket.