Art 370, 35A have done maximum damage to J&K: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that Article 370 and 35A have done maximum damage to Jammu and Kashmir and only former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's formula of "Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat and Jamhooriyat" will work in Jammu and Kashmir.

He also referred to the BJP's alliance in Jammu and Kashmir as with the PDP as 'mahamilawat'.

In an interview to Aaj Tak Hindi news channel, Modi said: "Article 370 and 35A have done maximum damage to Kashmir. We set up AIIMS and IIM in Kashmir, but top professors are not ready to go there because they can't buy property there."

"The rents there are very high. There is no investment in Jammu and Kashmir because investors feel they woould not get land there," he said.

Modi pointed out that the youth in Kashmir were not getting jobs. "Kashmir is staring at bankruptcy. Terrorists have finished tourism in the state. There is no investment because of Article 370 and 35A. Now, people in Kashmir feel there is a need for change," he said.

When asked about the BJP's promise of removing Article 370 and 35A of the Constitution, Modi said, "People who talk of secession have no right to fight elections. Jammu and Kashmir has been part of India for thousands of years. Questions should be asked to those who talk about secession."

Terming the PDP-BJP alliance as a mistake, the Prime Minister said it was "our mahamilawat (grand adulteration)".

"We have an understanding of Jammu and Kashmir and we did not require the experience of being in government for five years as I have worked there in the organisation and I used to go to all parts of the state," he said.

Slamming a few political families in the state, in an apparent dig at the People's Democratic Party and the National Conference in the state, the Prime Minister said: "A small section of families has found the way to blackmail the people of Jammu and Kashmir. When Mufti Mohammed Saeed Saheb was there, we were hopeful.

"But that was our mahamilawat. It was the mixture of oil and water and we did the alliance by saying that we are two poles and we would not be able to mix," he said, referring to the PDP-BJP alliance that has since cracked.

He said there was no other option in Jammu and Kashmir then given the kind of the mandate political parties got in Assembly elections. "And when it mattered for democracy, we came out of the alliance."

Modi said a small section of families in Kashmir speaka one thing in the state and another in Delhi. "We need to expose their double standards. "I am doing this to expose them. And I am asking them to say the same thing in Delhi that they say in Kashmir."

--IANS

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