New Delhi; Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will return to power after the 2024 general elections and hoped that by 2026, militancy will be completely eliminated from Jammu and Kashmir.
Replying to a debate in the Lok Sabha on the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, Shah said the government’s focus is on ending the ecosystem which has been aiding and abetting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir for years.
He said with the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, separatism has ended in the Union Territory and terrorism has reduced significantly.
“I believe the Modi government will return to power in 2024 and I hope there will be no terror incident in Jammu and Kashmir in 2026,” he said.
The home minister said a plan to have zero terror incident in Jammu and Kashmir is in force for the last three years and it will be successful by 2026.
He blamed the previous governments for the continuous terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir for a long period of time and said had terrorism been tackled at the beginning “without considering vote-bank politics”, Kashmiri Pandits wouldn’t have had to leave the valley.
Shah said 45,000 people have lost their lives due to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir so far.
He also gave statistics on the reduction of terror related incidents in Jammu and Kashmir and said in 2023, there has not been a single stone pelting incident, nor there was a call for ‘hartal’.
“Every month, the home ministry reviews the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and in every three months, I visit Jammu and Kashmir and review the situation there,” he said.
The home minister said people who used to say what happened in Jammu and Kashmir are cut off from the ground situation and obviously they would not know what changes have happened in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Those holidaying in England will not notice any change in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Shah said when terrorism started in Kashmir, people were targeted and they had to flee. “I have seen many leaders who shed crocodile tears and consoled well with words. But Modi is the only leader who has worked to wipe out their tears,” he said.
He said about 46,631 families and 1,57,967 people were displaced in their own country and were displaced in such a way that they were uprooted from their own homeland and this bill is going to give them rights and representation.
He said after the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir, there will be 43 assembly seats in Jammu region — up from present 37 — and in Kashmir Valley it will be 47 from 46.
Under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, two members from the Kashmiri migrant community and one representing the displaced persons from the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) will be nominated to the legislative assembly. As many as 24 seats will be kept for the residents of PoK.
(PTI)

  BJP, Kashmir 370

Press Trust of India