Asserting that Articles 370 and 35-A were a “miscarriage” of history and justice, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said that their scrapping by the Modi government was a social reform.
Singh made these remarks during a press conference held as part of the ongoing nationwide campaign commemorating 11 years of the Modi government.
The event aimed to highlight the achievements of the central government.
“Those who used to rake up the issue of Article 370 and Article 35-A, it was a miscarriage of history, a miscarriage of the Constitution, and a miscarriage of justice,” Singh told reporters. He termed the abrogation of constitutional provisions as a social reform and said, “This is also a social reform. In this country of 140 crore people, there was a place where daughters had no right to their parent’s property if they married outside the state.”
He further said that to have property rights, women had to marry within the state. “Doing away with this was a socio-economic reform,” he added. Referring to West Pakistan refugees, Gorkhas, and Valmikis residing in Jammu and Kashmir as having been treated as unwanted citizens, he said, “People who came from Pakistan and settled in J&K had no rights.
We gave them equality on the socio-economic front. This is also a socio-economic reform.”
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 11 years in office represent a decade of decisive, development-driven governance. “I have been fortunate to see this model of governance from very close. I took oath as Minister in the government years ago,” he said.
“You can see a factual and impactful glimpse into the country’s rapid growth across all sectors over the past 11 years,” he said. “Be it roads, railways, airports, healthcare, education, defence, electricity, water supply, or space research — the progress has been truly unprecedented.”
He highlighted the numerous welfare schemes initiated by the Modi government during this period, which have directly benefited the poor, marginalised and vulnerable sections of society.
India has entered a new era of citizen-centric governance, where transparency, accountability, and development are at the core of public policy, he added. The vision of a Viksit Bharat (Developed India) is no longer a distant dream but a reality in the making, he said.
Citing Operation Sindoor, other leaders highlighted India’s growing defence capabilities and said that under the Congress-led governments, India’s defence preparedness was often compromised, allowing adversaries like Pakistan to exploit vulnerabilities.
However, with Prime Minister Modi at the helm, the country has witnessed a paradigm shift in its strategic posture, significantly enhancing national security and border management, they said.
Abrogation of Article 370 socio-economic reform: Singh
JAMMU, JUN 12 (PTI)