The Bharatiya Janata Party manifesto for the upcoming elections in the disputed territory is released by Amit Shah.
Home Minister of India, Amit Shah, has declared that his party will never consent to the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir being given autonomy again. The region’s autonomy was taken away by the ruling Hindu nationalist administration in 2019.
After unveiling the Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto for the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, Shah told reporters, “Article 370 is history and it can never come back and we will never allow it to be restored.”
The right-wing BJP in India has consistently promised during elections to abolish Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution, which gave Kashmir autonomy inside the Indian Union, as well as to build a temple atop a destroyed medieval mosque and implement a unified civil code.
“We want Jammu and Kashmir to be developed, prosperous, and peaceful. Our party has always valued Jammu and Kashmir since its independence and has worked to maintain its borders with India. J&K has always been a part of India, and we think it always will be,” Shah stated.
He questioned India’s opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, on his views on autonomy following Gandhi’s party’s seat-sharing agreement with the oldest party in the area, the National Conference, which has made autonomy restoration a central election platform.
Gandhi declared on Wednesday that the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, which was also demoted to a territory under federal administration in 2019, will be the top goal for his party.
Gandhi’s Congress party had denounced the process by which the autonomous status of the Muslim-majority province was abandoned.
first elections for local assemblies
Through a Lieutenant Governor, Jammu and Kashmir has been directly ruled by New Delhi since 2019.
2014 saw the former autonomous state’s legislative assembly hold its final elections. A much-weakened local assembly will be up for election in three phases starting on September 18, which is widely perceived as a referendum on the BJP’s 2019 decision.
The previous system prohibited foreigners from purchasing real estate or accepting government jobs; however, the independent character was dropped. The residents are afraid that they will become economically marginalized and a minority as a result of this.
The restoration of autonomy has become a central platform issue for the two biggest political parties in the area, the People’s Democratic Party and the National Conference.
The National Conference and the Congress have agreed to share seats ahead of the polls, which has angered India’s Home Minister Amit Shah, who said that the Congress is “risking nation’s unity and security to satiate its greed for power” by forming this alliance.
Shah wondered whether “Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party support the National Conference’s decision to restore autonomy and thereby push Jammu and Kashmir back into an era of unrest and terrorism?”
In an attempt to justify its decision to revoke the laws giving Kashmir autonomy, the BJP claimed that the autonomy was to blame for the region’s raging “anti-India insurgency” and that it encouraged prejudice and separatism.
The majority of the 47 seats in the Muslim-majority Kashmir region are anticipated to be won by the NC-Congress alliance and PDP in the next elections, while the majority of the 43 seats in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region are likely to be won by the BJP.
