india

Updated: Aug 21, 2019 01:19 IST

Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the Centre would reach out to the people of Jammu and Kashmir following the division of the state into two union territories and abrogation of Constitution’s Article 370 that gave the region special status.

Delivering the 13 Kao Memorial Lecture at the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) headquarters here, Shah underlined the removal of Article 370 would lead to the fast-paced development. He added it would benefit the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Shah said normalcy would return to Kashmir Valley sooner than later. “The government had studied the legal position in detail before stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its special status,” Shah said. “The government was of the view that the move was unlikely to face any serious legal challenge,” he added.

Shah reiterated that the special status had contributed to corruption, separatism, and terrorism. He added the move to strip it would help integrate the region into the mainstream and rejuvenate the economy.

In his address, Shah focused on Jammu and Kashmir and New Delhi’s efforts to bring back normalcy to the region days after New Delhi stripped it of the special status on August 5.

The Kao Memorial lecture instituted a decade ago commemorates the R&AW’s first chief, Ram Nath Kao.

For the first time, the R&AW, India’s external intelligence agency, invited foreign delegates to the lecture. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who was in Jammu and Kashmir for about 10 days to monitor the situation, was also present at the lecture.

Members of Parliament Hans Raj Hans, Swapan Dasgupta, and Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman Sambit Patra also attended the lecture.