Abrogation of J-K's special status ended 'crisis of credibility': Rajnath

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh here on Friday termed the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status a big achievement which ended the "crisis of credibility" in politics. "The abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir is a step which ended the crisis of credibility in politics. There was a belief in people that in politics whatever is said is not done. But we did what we say," he said.

The defence minister said they had promised it in their manifestoes since the days of the Jan Sangh. "When we got the absolute majority, we fulfilled our promise," Singh said addressing a gathering.

The defence minister also claimed that since August 5--the day the special status was revoked--"no civilian had been killed in Jammu and Kashmir". "On the other hand, our security forces have killed a number of terrorists and normalcy is returning there," he added.

The defence minister also attacked Pakistan, saying it had made terrorism as "udyog dhandha" (industry and business) due to which its economy was collapsing. "Pakistan sees its existence by working against India. Prices are rising there and their economy is collapsing. The countries which used to patronise them are not ready to help them financially now," he said.

He said people in the country did not need to worry as under "our power prime minister, no one can dare to see us with bad intentions". Mentioning the ASEAN defence minister's summit in Bangkok recently, Rajnath said the image of the country had improve abroad due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"I met defence ministers of 10 countries and everyone was eager for the meeting. I as Rajanth Singh is nothing but as a defence minister of India, everyone was keen on meeting us due to the image built by the prime minister abroad," he said. "The image of India has improved manifold in foreign countries. The defence minister of the US during a meeting said they had the best relations with India in the present times," he added.

Attacking the opposition charge of economic slowdown, Rajnath said, "Despite global recession, it's impact is less in the country. Our economy is growing at a fast pace. We are going to become a dollar 5 trillion economy by 2024." "By 2025, we will become one of the top five economic powers of the world and in next 10-14 years, India will be among the top three," he claimed.

Striking an emotional chord with party workers, Rajnath, who is also the local MP, asked them to directly inform him about any incident of grief in their families. "I should be directly informed if any workers has any grief. I will call him. I might not be there is your good times, but will surely reach you in bad one," he said.

Rajnath on the occasion also highlighted various works that are going on in his constituency and promised to do more to end traffic woes in the city.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)