“Will not tolerate separatism, terrorism” Amit Shah
GK report
Vowing to give a befitting reply to any attempt to break the country, Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said “separatist movement and terrorism” will not be tolerated in Jammu and Kashmir and asserted that India wants peace, but not with those who do not respect its borders.
The Home Minister said Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and no one can detach it from the country. “Our government has zero tolerance for terrorism.”
Replying to a debate in Rajya Sabha on
Shah advocated
“We want development in the (Kashmir) Valley. But we will not tolerate any separatist movement and terrorism. Terrorists who do not want to join with India have no place in the government’s scheme of things. They will face severe action and difficulties,” he said.
Shah said the Modi government struck at the heart of militant training when it carried out surgical and air strikes across the border after the Uri and Pulwama attacks.
Unlike in the past, foreign and
“We want peace with the world but there cannot be peace with those who do not respect our borders,” he said.
He blamed the Kashmir problem to the ceasefire by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru when one-third of the state was still in Pakistani occupation and said “historical blunders” will always be debated.
He went on to ask why Nehru government went to the United Nations despite Kashmir’s accession to India and agree to hold plebiscite “that is in any case out of question today”.
On
A citizenship bill will be brought to give Indian citizenship to Hindus coming from
Rejecting opposition’s allegation that the BJP was using President’s rule to continue its proxy rule, Shah said there is no “drought” for his party as it is in power in 16 out of the 29 states in the country.
The BJP, he said, formed a government in the state with PDP due to a fractured mandate of the people and snapped ties when it
President’s Rule in J&K extended for 6 more months
“We have continued with a single approach towards the Kashmir issue but if the problems
He, however, said the government is committed to
He asked the Congress why panchayat and municipal elections were not held before and why democracy in the state be restricted to “just three families”.
Taking a jibe at Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, Shah said BJP was for holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and all state assemblies and he was willing “to bring a bill tomorrow if the opposition party agrees to the proposal”.
To criticism on why
“Whenever Election Commission says we will not take even a single day to call elections in the state,” he said.
Our fight is for Kashmir, not against Kashmiris: PM
Responding to opposition citing Vajpayee’s call for
The Home Minister also defended shutdown of highways in the state following the Pulwama attack and during the ongoing
The government, he said, is committed to protecting every citizen.
“Our approach is clear, those who talk of breaking India we will respond to them in the same language,” he said. “There is no need for fear in anyone’s mind. It is
Shah said the Congress was guilty of misusing Article 356 of the Constitution the most to dismiss governments of rival parties in the states.
On steps taken during the President’s rule, he said security cover of 2,000 people was reviewed and was withdrawn for 919 persons including eight separatists.
Separatists advocated shutting down of educational institutions in the Valley but sent their children to foreign countries for higher education and jobs, he said adding there were some 130 such people. Militants lodged in jails in Jammu and Kashmir are being shifted out to other states to prevent
RSS to open
Meanwhile, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, ( RSS) the Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist,
RSS, widely regarded as the parent
The Sangh wants to prepare the ground for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in states where it has not yet been able to form
Interestingly, Kashmir figures prominently on the RSS wish list even though the Valley has minimal Hindu population. RSS is hopeful that it would succeed in building bridges in Kashmir and “clear the cobwebs that have grown in the past decades.