SHILLONG, Aug 9: The just-abrogated Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu & Kashmir, was detrimental and has absolutely no correlation with Article 371, which gives certain special rights to some places in the Northeast, union minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday.
Addressing the 75th year platinum jubilee celebration of the English daily, The Shillong Times, here in Meghalaya, Singh sought to allay the fears and apprehensions in a section of people in the Northeast that following the abrogation of Article 370, the next to be abrogated would be Article 371.
Article 370 had absolutely no correlation, whatsoever, with Article 371, Singh, the union DoNER minister, said.
The minister asked the media to check the misinformation circulated by certain vested interests, and expressed hope that as responsible guardians of the press, they would help in setting the record straight.
Singh said it was absolutely irrational and illogical to draw a parallel between Articles 370 and 371 as the very connotations and the bases of the two articles are entirely different.
While Article 371, he said, was incorporated primarily with a focus on development of the northeastern region and preservation of the cultural heritage, Article 370 was incorporated as a “temporary” provision and deprived the state of Jammu & Kashmir of a large number of welfare laws and provisions of the Indian constitution which could otherwise be in the interest of the people.
The minister said a number of central provisions and legislations that had benefitted millions of people across the country were not available to the people of Jammu & Kashmir.
“In the days and months to come, more and more people across the country and J&K, including the government employees in the state, will realize what enormous benefits they had been deprived of for several decades simply because of Article 370,” he said.
President Ram Nath Kovind on 6 August declared abrogation of Article 370 after the parliament gave its nod to the effect. (PTI)
