On the last day of campaigning for the first phase of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah on Monday attacked the Congress party and its leader Rahul Gandhi over their alleged intention to “push the region towards terrorism”.
Leading the BJP in the poll-bound state, Shah has repeatedly claimed that the Congress and its ally National Conference (NC) are soft on terrorism and are planning to release terrorists and stone-pelters from jails if the coalition government comes to power. “Once again, an attempt is being made to garner support for terrorism here,” Shah said at a rally in Kishtwar.
NC and Congress have even promised to release these terrorists if they win. But I assure you today that as long as (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi’s government is in power (at the Centre), no one will dare to spread terrorism on Indian soil.” “Today I remember all the martyrs of this region and promise that we will eliminate terrorism in such a way that it will never emerge again,” he said.
Moreover, Shah reiterated that Article 370, which gave ‘special status’ to Jammu and Kashmir and was revoked by the BJP-led Centre in August 2019, is ‘history’. Elections for the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, for the first time since November-December 2014, will be held on September 18, September 25 and October 1. The counting of votes will take place on October 8.
A few months after the 2014 elections, in February 2015, the largest and second-largest parties, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the BJP, respectively, joined hands to form a government. This uneasy partnership ended in June 2018.