Abrogation of Art 370 not for votes, but fulfilling commitment

The NDA government scrapped Article 370 not for votes or publicity but fulfilling a commitment to the nation, Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said on Tuesday. Barring a few districts the situation in the Kashmir valley was by and large "normal," he said while delivering a talk on 'End of Article 370, Impact on Emerging India.' "Abrogation of Article 370 was not done for publicity purpose or for votes. It is our long term commitment to the nation.

We introduced the bill in Parliament despite the fact that we do not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha. But we knew that some of the political parties who were against the Triple Talaq Bill would extend support as the issue is related to national integration," the union minister said. Explaining that the special provision for Jammu and Kashmir did more harm than good to the region, Reddy said many government programmes, schemes and reservations were not implemented there.

According to him, the centre was spending about Rs 60,000 crore annually in the troubled state. However, due to lack of accountability and its own laws, the region did not develop, he said.

"The centre was pumping in Rs 60,000 crore annually. But, as there was no development, people say two or three families only got benefited. We will dig out all accounts there and book the corrupt," the union minister added..