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Updated: Sep 23, 2019 22:29 IST

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said the BJP government had in one stroke opened the path to development, peace and prosperity in Jammu and Kashmir by scrapping Article 370.

Gadkari was addressing a meeting of intellectuals from the city, organized by the state BJP under its Rashtriya Ekta Abhiyan.

“We will rid Kashmir of fear, terrorism and corruption. The path to making Kashmir a peaceful, prosperous and developed state has been cleared by the decision to remove Article 370,” Gadkari said.

He added that not only Jammu and Kashmir but occupied Kashmir too is a part of India.

He said the ‘historic’ decision by the BJP government was a victory of the struggle and commitment of party leaders and workers. “This was our dream... Shyama Prasad Mukherjee sacrificed his life for this... removing Articles 370 and 35A is our tribute to Mukherjee.”

“Now a new era of development and prosperity will dawn in Kashmir. There will be investment and development, tourism will get a boost, new educational institutions will open, there will be employment, roads, water, electricity, healthcare,” he said.

Gadkari said it was a travesty that for several decades the Indian laws and policies were not applicable in Jammu and Kashmir and one country had two constitutions and two flags.

He said two families had ruled the state and indulged in massive corruption. He said vested interests wanted to keep the state on the boil so that Articles 370 and 35A would never be removed.

“Those who did vote bank politics called us communal and spread violence and terrorism... There were chants of ‘Hindustan murdabad’ and the Indian flag was burnt in Kashmir... there were slogans of ‘Pakistan zindabad’ and the Pakistani flag was hoisted... there was so much opposition when we wanted to unfurl the tricolour in Lal Chowk.”

But, said Gadkari, removal of Article 370 had solved all such problems.

Gadkari blamed India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Congress party’s wrong policies and politics of appeasement for the mess in Kashmir.

In a lighter vein, he said the BJP government’s decision had benefitted Rajasthan deputy chief minister and state Congress president Sachin Pilot.

“Pilot is married to former JK chief minister Farooq Abdullah’s daughter and after removal of Article 35A she will get equal property rights as her brother, Omar Abdullah.”

The BJP had for the first time held panchayat elections in Kasmhir and now panchayats were getting funds directly from the Centre to carry out development work in villages, he said.