Kashmir integral part of country, 370 abrogation reinforced bond, says Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said Kashmir was, is and will always be an integral part of the country. He emphasised that no law or legislation could change this fact, pointing out that despite attempts to grant the region special status through Article 370, the provision was ultimately abrogated, reinforcing the region’s enduring bond with the country.

Shah made these remarks while addressing a gathering at the launch of a book titled ‘J&K and Ladakh: A Historical Narrative of Continuity and Connectivity’. He praised the efforts of the National Book Trust and the Indian Council of Historical Research for challenging the long-standing myth that India was never a unified nation.

“Many people accepted this falsehood, but on probing further, it has come to light that India is a geocultural country, whose boundaries are bound by varied cultures. Similarly untruths were spread about J&K and Ladakh, but after research by these bodies, it has been clearly proven that these two regions (which are now union territories) have always been integral parts of India,” Shah said during the event, where Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was also present.

“History during the period of the British was written to please the rulers and now time has come to scrap such history and I appeal to historians and scholars that they should present the country’s history based on facts and research. We should not criticise past historians, as now time has come to present India’s actual history supported by facts,” Shah said.

Referring to the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, Shah said provisions that are temporary and unnatural don’t last long, and it was due to the strong will of the government, that this forgettable chapter of India’s history was closed.

“People ask me what is the relation between Article 370 and terrorism. I tell them that this Article had created a myth that Kashmir is a temporary part of India, which led to increase of terrorism due to which it could not develop and terrorism continued for six decades,” Shah said.

He claimed that 2,100 incidents of stone throwing took place prior to the abrogation of Article 370, while in 2024 not a single such incident took place.