india

Updated: Sep 03, 2019 19:36 IST

The BJP’s chief Amit Shah and its working president J P Nadda met former Jammu and Kashmir governor Jagmohan, known for his nationalists views on Kashmir, as part of the party’s outreach to leading members of the society over the Centre’s move to revoke provisions of Article 370.

The BJP has embarked on a month-long ‘Sampark and Janjagran Abhiyan’ to seek people’s support on the government’s decision to end Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution, with its leaders and workers asked to fan out across the country to hold meetings.

“Met Shri Jagmohan Malhotra ji, former Governor of Jammu & Kashmir as part of BJP’s nationwide Sampark and Janjagran Abhiyaan, to spread awareness about the benefits of abrogating Article 370 & 35A, a historic decision, by PM Shri Narendra Modi ji,” tweeted Shah, who is also the Union home minister.

Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan accompanied Shah and Nadda to the meeting.

Shah’s decision to launch the contact and public awareness campaign by meeting 91-year-old Jagmohan, a hardliner on the Kashmir issue, holds significance as he had long been a vocal critic of the special status given to the state and had called for tough measures against militants and separatists.

His two terms as governor, first from 1984 to 1989 and then for a few months in 1990, when terrorism had erupted in the Valley, had drawn admiration and criticism, especially for his tough response to separatist violence, alike.

Politicians from the Valley often panned him for his alleged harsh measures but he also drew praise from many quarters for his no-nonsense approach and push for infrastructure development.

Jagmohan was removed as governor in 1990 by then prime minister V P Singh due to the opposition’s uproar. The decision was also backed by some of Singh’s allies.

Once close to the Congress, especially due to his proximity to Sanjay Gandhi, he gradually drifted towards the BJP. He fought Lok Sabha elections on the saffron party’s ticket and won from New Delhi several times. He was also a minister in the first BJP-led NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The Union government on August 5 abrogated provisions of Article 370, which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated the state into Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)