Union Home Minister Amit Shah today said the two bills related to Jammu and Kashmir brought by the government will give justice to those deprived of their rights for the last 70 years and asserted that reservation to the displaced people will give them a voice in the legislature.
Replying to a debate on the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, Amit Shah said that had terrorism been tackled at the beginning without considering vote-bank politics, Kashmiri Pandits would not have had to leave Kashmir Valley.
He said one of the bills seeks to give representation in the assembly to those who had to leave Kashmir due to terrorism.
Amit Shah lashed out at the Congress for talking about backward classes, saying that if any party has opposed backward classes and come in the way of their growth, it is the Congress.
He said Narendra Modi was born into a poor family and became the prime minister and he knows the pain of the backward classes and the poor.
“One of two bills on Jammu and Kashmir seeks to nominate two Kashmiri migrant community members, including a woman, to the assembly,” Mr Shah said, underscoring that he was happy that no one had objected to the essential provisions of the bill.
Contending that 45,000 people lost their lives due to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Shah said, “Our focus is to end terror ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir. I believe the Modi government will return to power in 2024 and by 2026 I hope there will be no terror incident in J&K,” he added.
“There is a difference between granting someone their rights, and granting someone their rights with dignity,” he said.
“The bill that I have brought pertains to bringing justice to and providing rights to those against whom injustice was done, who were insulted and ignored. In any society, those who are deprived should be brought forward. That is the basic sense of the Constitution of India. But they have to be brought forward in a way that doesn’t reduce their respect,” he said.