'Article 370 is foolproof': Amit Shah exudes confidence on Centre's 5 August move on Kashmir, says it will pass legal test

Claiming Article 370 to be the root cause of terrorism in Kashmir, Home Minister Amit Shah said Centre’s move to abrogate its provisions that accorded semi-autonomous status to the state, is absolutely foolproof and has effectively struck at the terror operations in the Valley. [caption id=“attachment_7515571” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Amit Shah during an interview with News18. Image courtesy: News18[/caption] In an exclusive interview to Network18 group editor-in-chief Rahul Joshi, Shah said he was “personally involved” in drafting bill that paved the way for revoking provisions of Article 370. “Let me tell you and let me reassure the people of India that I was personally involved in the drafting of this bill. It will pass the muster of the court. Let whichever bench hear the case on the matter. I’m sure our bill and the manner in which we executed the whole process will not be questioned. I’m sure it will pass the legal test with 100 out of 100 marks,” said the home minister. Shah held Article 370 responsible to act as a catalyst for the violence that unfolded in Kashmir. He gave an estimate of 40,000 killings in the Valley since the 1990s. “If someone does a detailed study of this, you can easily understand that Article 370 is responsible. We have tried to stop the root cause of terrorism by abrogating the article and in this direction, hopefully we will move with success,” the BJP national president said. According to him, the three biggest concerns in the Valley were – separatism and terrorism, rampant corruption and the absence of a blueprint for the state’s future.

“I think the root cause of all the three issues was Article 370 and nullifying it will now take the Valley towards the path of peace and prosperity,” he said. He further claimed that the 5 August move on Article 370 has made a “huge impact” in the election-bound Haryana that sends one the highest number of individuals to the armed forces. “The contribution of Haryana, a relatively small state, to the armed forces is reported to be around 9 percent,” Shah said. A five-member Constitution bench of the Supreme Court is hearing the challenge mounted to the legal validity of the Centre’s abrogation of the provisions of Article 370. On 28 September, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had set up the bench comprising justices NV Ramana, SK Kaul, R Subhash Reddy, BR Gavai and Surya Kant.