BJP’s Sankalp Patra 2024 Outlines Vision for Peace,Prosperity in J&K
Amit Shah Slams Cong for supporting NC’s push to restore Article 370″
Jammu: Union Home Minister Amit Shah unveiled the BJP’s poll manifesto on Friday, vowing to transform Jammu and Kashmir from a “militant hotspot to a tourism hotspot.” He said that Article 370 has become “history” and will never be reinstated.
Prior to releasing the manifesto (Sankalp Patra 2024), Shah criticized the Congress for its tacit support of the National Conference’s manifesto, which seeks to restore Article 370.
“I want to make it clear to the nation: Article 370 is now a thing of the past,” Shah asserted. “It is no longer part of the Constitution. It will never return, and we will not allow it. This is the Article that handed weapons and stones to the youth and enabled their descent into militancy.”
Shah stated that the provision is now “a thing of the past,” following its abrogation in 2019. The National Conference, which is contesting the elections in alliance with the Congress, has pledged to restore Article 370 in their manifesto.
These Assembly polls, the first since 2014, are crucial for assessing public sentiment regarding the removal of the provision. Additionally, Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two Union Territories—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh—in 2019. The government has promised that J&K will soon regain statehood.
During his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Shah emphasized the BJP’s commitment to integrating the region with India, highlighting its significance to the party since Independence.
“Until 2014, Jammu and Kashmir was plagued by separatism and militancy, with various state and non-state actors working to destabilize the region while governments pursued appeasement policies. However, the period from 2014 to 2024 will be remembered as a golden era for Jammu and Kashmir in the annals of Indian history,” the minister stated in Hindi.
He continued, “There was a time when, under the shadow of Article 370, governments yielded to the demands of separatists and groups like the Hurriyat. Over the past decade, both Article 370 and Article 35-A, which allowed the J&K legislature to define permanent residents and grant them special privileges, have been relegated to the past. They no longer hold any place in the Constitution.”
Shah emphasized that the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, under PM Narendra Modi, has spurred significant development in Jammu and Kashmir. He noted that he had reviewed the National Conference’s manifesto and observed the Congress’ “silent support” for it.
“But I want to make it clear to the country: Article 370 is history. It will never be reinstated, and we will never allow it to return. Article 370 was responsible for the youth in Kashmir being handed guns and stones,” Shah asserted.
Regarding the Assembly elections, the minister stated that the BJP’s manifesto aims to create a “peaceful, safe, developed, and prosperous” Jammu and Kashmir.
ater, releasing the party’s poll manifesto, he appealed to people to vote the BJP to power in Jammu and Kashmir to transform it from “a militant hotspot to a tourist hotspot”, adding that militancy will be completely wiped out from here.
“A white paper will be issued to fix responsibility of those involved in the emergence of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Other key promises in the manifesto are ‘Ma Samman Yojana’ to give Rs 18,000 to the eldest woman of every family, each year, two free cylinders under the Ujjwala scheme, per year.
It also said that Under Pragati Shiksha Yojana, Rs 3,000 travelling allowance to college students per year. Providing assistance via the state government for Women SHGs on the issue of interest on bank loans.
Meanwhile Jammu and Kashmir will cast their votes in three phases from September 18 to October 1, with the counting set for October 8.
