NAGPUR: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that stone pelting has stopped in Kashmir and now there are theaters running and tourists visiting the Valley. “There used to be stone pelting and violence in Kashmir but now these things have mk stopped. There are theatres running and 1.8 crore tourists have visited the Valley in a year,” he said while speaking at an event in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Shah said when Article 370 of the Constitution of India granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir was abrogated, speeches were made in Parliament that blood will flow in Kashmir. But no one even pelted a single stone, leave aside the pool of blood, he asserted. The Home Minister said the country has seen an 80 per cent reduction in violence from terrorism in Kashmir, insurgency in the Northeast and left-wing extremism under the Narendra Modi Government. Before the Modi Government, the country faced internal security challenges in terms of Kashmir, Northeast and Left-wing extremism. “Today, I can say that there has been an 80 per cent reduction in violence from terrorism in Kashmir, insurgency in the Northeast and left-wing extremism under the Modi Government,” he said. The Home Minister said visiting of 1.8 crore tourists in the Kashmir Valley in one year is a “big thing”. There had been investments worth Rs 12,000 crore in Kashmir in 70 years but under the Modi Government, it has got Rs 12,000 crore in just three years, he said. “Each home in Kashmir has been provided with tap water and electricity, which is a huge change,” Shah said. Insurgency has significantly come down in the Northeast, he said, stressing that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), a controversial statute, has been withdrawn from about 60 per cent of the area in the Northeast. PM Modi’s vision is to see India at the top in the world, said the Minister. Explaining the three big aims of ‘Amrit Kaal’, the 25-year period culminating in the centenary of India’s independence, mooted by PM Modi, Shah said the first goal is to showcase the sacrifices of freedom fighters before the present generation. The second aim is to bring before the people the progress made by the country in the past 75 years, while the third aim is to ensure that India reaches the top in all sectors in the next 25 years, said the Home Minister. He said India is becoming “atmanirbhar” in defence production – with 70 per cent self-reliance – and asserted that the country is turning into a manufacturing hub in the world under Modi. The Government has been taking decisions that are beneficial to the people, he said, adding that India will be leading the world in hydrogen production in two to three years. “Similarly, India will be way ahead in the field of satellites in four to five years,” he said. Indian start-ups are also proving their mettle to the world, he said. The Home Minister praised Modi for his efforts to curb the spread of Coronavirus in India and said the his call for ‘Janta curfew’ got a huge response. Recalling former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri’s call to ‘miss a meal once a week’, Shah said Modi is the only leader after Shastri to whom the masses in India listened to. (agencies)
