“During debates in Parliament after revocation of Article 370, the opposition used to say that there would be a bloodbath in the troubled state. We have not only stopped the spilling of blood but also incidents of stone pelting and protests. Over 1.8 crore tourists visited J&K last year,” Shah said at an event marking 50 years of Lokmat’s Nagpur edition.
Targeting Rahul Gandhi, the Union minister said Congress MP had sought removal of AFSPA (the 1958 law that gives special powers to soldiers during counter-insurgency/terrorism ops), “but we told him that until peace prevailed in the NE region, we will not do it”.
BJP has no competition in 2024 Lok Sabha polls: Amit Shah
“Now, we have removed its provisions from 60% of those areas after achieving our objective,” Shah said.
The home minister said the Modi government could take hard decisions like abrogating Article 370 in 2019 to bring peace in J&K because it never believed in vote-bank politics. “Hurriyat leaders used to dictate terms. Now, we have sealed their fate,” Shah said, asserting that J&K had received as much investment over the past three years as it’s total of Rs 12,000 crore over 70 years from 1947.
Lauding Modi’s initiative of celebrating 75 years of independence, Shah said the PM had not limited the event to government offices but ensured participation of 130 crore Indians. “He has set three targets for the citizens. “Our next generation, including our children, teenagers and youths, should get proper information about India’s freedom struggle and how our legends sacrificed their lives. From 1857 to 1947, which is a period of 90 years,” Shah said.
Amit Shah: ‘No competition for the BJP in 2024’
Shah said there was a saying about the British that the sun never used to set on their kingdom. “India started setting their sun and from then onwards, the mighty British kingdom started shrinking. It is the same country which ruled us for over 150 years. Today, we have displaced them by becoming the world’s fifth largest economy. We have made rapid strides in sectors like space, solar energy, start-ups, education, defence, manufacturing and others. We did it without any arrogance,” Shah said.
Admitting that India’s health infrastructure was in a bad shape during the pandemic, the former BJP president said the government declared a lockdown but India soon entered the vaccine producers’ club with the help of its scientists.
“We administered 130 crore doses and people got certificates instantly on their mobiles. In the US, their citizens had to wait for six months for the certificates. Even as the entire world is facing recession, India is out of it due to its good economic policies. People across the globe are still in awe of how PM Modi ensured food grain to over 80 crore people for two years during the pandemic. We have never taken populist decisions but stood firm for people’s welfare. It’s not easy to go against the flow, but people voted for us twice,” Shah said.
