Article 370 Verdict: Historically significant day for India’s integration, says Maharashtra CM Shinde

CM Eknath Shinde. File Pic

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday said that it was a historically significant day for India's integration after the Supreme Court passed its verdict on the Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

In an official statement on X, CM Eknath Shinde said, "Today is the historically significant day for India's integration. The decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to abrogate Article 370, gets a final nod from the Hon SC of India."

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He said, "I congratulate Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for their commitment to ideology and remarkable courage to correct a historical blunder."

CM Shinde further said, "this integration will end terrorism and bring peace and justice to Jammu & Kashmir. Today's decision also makes a way for a free and fair election."

He added, "Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray once said, that if he becomes the Prime Minister of India for a day he will abrogate Article 370. Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have made his dream into a reality today. Unfortunate that some political parties remain skeptical and fail to acknowledge this great change in India's political history. I have no doubt that one day POK will be part of India."

Meanwhile, the BJP on Monday hailed as "historic" the Supreme Court upholding the Centre's decision to scrap Article 370 and said with its abrogation in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave new strength to the unity and integrity of India.

The apex court unanimously upheld the Centre's decision to abrogate provisions of the Article bestowing special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and directed restoration of statehood "at the earliest" as well as elections to the assembly by September 30 next year.

Defence Minister and former BJP president Rajnath Singh in a post on X said, "Today the Supreme Court upheld Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to scrap Article 370 and 35A of the Constitution and the process followed for that."

"This historic decision of the Supreme Court is going to make every Indian happy," he said and added that by abrogating Article 370, Prime Minister Modi has not only written a new chapter but has also given new strength to the unity and integrity of India.

Today Jammu and Kashmir has entered a new era of development, he added.

The apex court also upheld the validity of the decision to carve out the union territory of Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.

"I have full confidence that under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will prove to be a benchmark in terms of development and good governance," Singh wrote on X.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on X said the top court's verdict is yet another victory and moment of celebration for all the "nationalist people" of the country, who dreamt of "complete integration of the Jammu and Kashmir with Bharat" and for which they fought political and legal battles, and even sacrificed their lives.

Thakur said that the Modi government withdrew the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019, to undo one of the many "historic blunders" committed by the Congress during the Nehruvian era.

"Certain political ecosystems and its offshoots and offshore sympathisers started conspiracies against this integration process because they never wanted normalcy to return to the (Kashmir) Valley," he claimed.

The minister said the unification of Bharat was incomplete without "Ek Pradhan, Ek Nishan, Ek Vidhan". "And this objective was finally achieved," he added.

"Under the leadership of Modi ji, peace and prosperity are returning and people have rejected terrorism," Thakur said.

"More power to Narendra Modi ji because the nation trusts him as a man of his word who can restore the glory and territory of Bharat, lost in the past," the minister wrote on X.

(with PTI inputs)