Article 370: Supreme Court verdict on J&K is big defeat of opposition parties, says Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha

Home Minister Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha on Monday launched an attack on the opposition as he praised the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the abrogation of Article 370.

"Supreme Court verdict on Jammu and Kashmir is big defeat of opposition parties," said Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha.

Rajya Sabha on Monday passed the Jammu-Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill and Jammu-Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2023, the day the Supreme Court upheld the abrogation of Article 370. The two bills were passed by Lok Sabha last week.


Home Minister slams Congress:
After the verdict of the apex court, Shah also slammed former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in Rajya Sabha.

"Former PM Jawaharlal Nehru was seeing (accession of) Jammu and Kashmir (after Independence) and he left it incomplete. So many regions of the country that seemed difficult than J&K joined India but why was Article 370 brought for Kashmir," said Union Home Minister in Rajya Sabha on abrogation of Article 370.

He said Congress should consider changing its position. He also said "Your numbers will go down further. There will be a contest in 2024 (Lok Sabha polls), Modiji will become PM for the third time."

"Three 'parivaars' in Jammu and Kashmir hindered the rights of STs mentioned in India's Constitution," said Union Home Minister in Rajya Sabha.

Terrorism in Kashmir:
Amit Shah, in the upper house of Parliament, also commented on the persistent issue of terrorism in Kashmir.

"We have done the work of finishing the ecosystem of terrorism... 32 terrorism finance cases have been registered by SIT and 51 terrorism finance cases were registered by SIG. 229 arrests have been made in terror finance cases. Properties worth Rs 150 crores have been seized and SIA has frozen 134 bank accounts with Rs 100 crores in them.," said Union Minister Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha. He added Congress has been against that Article 370 abrogation.

"Article 370 boosted separatism and separatism led to the rise of terrorism," said Shah in the upper house.

Supreme Court verdict:
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Union Government's decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and said that every decision taken by the Centre on behalf of a State cannot be subject to a legal challenge.

A five-judge Constitution bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, and Surya Kant delivered the verdict.

Supreme Court said that it has held that Article 370 was a temporary provision.

(with agency inputs)