Art 370 sowed seeds of separatism: Shah

There has been a 70% reduction in terrorist activities since Article 370 was abrogated and the figure is indicative of the fact that the provision in the Constitution ‘was a promoter of terrorism’, he said

Article 370 sowed the “seeds of separatism” in the Kashmir Valley and spread a “myth that Kashmir’s association and India” is temporary, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Thursday.

Amit Shah (PTI)

There has been a 70% reduction in terrorist activities since Article 370 was abrogated in 2019 and the figure is indicative of the fact that the provision in the Constitution “was a promoter of terrorism”, Shah said at the launch of the book “Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh: Through the Ages” in Delhi.

“Several times, many people ask me the question ‘What is the relationship between Article 370 and terrorism?’ They do not know that Article 370 tried to sow the seeds of separatism in the minds of the valley’s youths,” Shah said.

“The Muslim population is in many places in the country but there is no terrorism in those places. Then, they argue that Kashmir is located near Pakistan. But Gujarat and Rajasthan are also located near Pakistan but there is no terrorism in the states,” he said.

“Article 370 spread the myth that the association of Kashmir and India is temporary which resulted in sowing of seeds of separatism and later turned into terrorism. This is unfortunate that more than 40000 people became victims of terrorism and the development of Kashmir went behind by a decade. For decades, terrorism continued unabated in Kashmir and the country witnessed it all as silent spectators,” he said, as he lauded the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government for demolishing the ecosystem of terrorism.

“We not only succeeded in controlling the terrorism, but Modi government demolished the whole ecosystem of terrorism in the valley,” he said. He highlighted that while there were 2,100 stone-pelting incidents in 2018, not a single such incident was reported in 2024.

“Article 370 and 35 A were the articles that stopped the unison of Kashmir with the rest of the country... The majority in the Constituent Assembly did not want to include Article 370 in the Constitution but it became part of the Constitution. However, some visionary people thought of making it a temporary provision. Artificial things do not have long life and the determination of Narendra Modi abrogated Article 370 on August 5, 2019, and ended the disgraced chapter of our history. With this, the chapter of development of Kashmir with other parts of India begun,” Shah said.

The BJP-led central government abrogated Article 370 which accorded the special status on Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019 and split the state into two Union territories.

In his address, Shah also attacked the Congress and asked, “Why couldn’t you do even 10% of our work within 70 years of your government.”

“...The 10,000-year-old culture of India spread in all areas was also present in Kashmir... When 8000-year-old books mention Kashmir and Jhelum, then no one can comment on to whom Kashmir belongs. Kashmir is and has always been an inseparable part of India. No one can separate it using sections of law. Attempts were made to separate it using law, but those sections were abrogated in the flow of time and all obstacles were removed...,” he said.

Shah was addressing the event for the launch of the book “Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh: Through the Ages”, published in Hindi and English in collaboration by the National Book Trust and the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR).

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan was guest of the honour at the event.