Poor In J-K Have Rights For First Time After Scrapping Of Article 370: PM Modi In Rajya Sabha

Enlisting benefits of the scrapping of Article 370, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that August 5 was ‘a black day for those who promoted terrorism and separatism.’ The prime minister, while speaking in the Rajya Sabha in his reply to a debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, said that deprived people of the newly formed Union Territory have got several benefits for the first time. “Vaiko ji said 5 August 2019 was a black day for Jammu and Kashmir. Vaiko ji it was not a black day for J-K, it was a black day for those who promoted terrorism and separatism,” he said.

“Poor in J-K got the benefit of the reservation after scrapping of Article 370,” the prime minister said. He also said that the anti-corruption bureau has been set up in JK for the first time.

Stating that Congress Ghulam Nabi Azad was wrong in saying that decisions on Jammu and Kashmir were taken without any discussion, PM Modi said that the entire nation had witnessed the detailed discussions on the subject and elected Members of Parliament had voted in favour of it.

The PM also said that he was a little disappointed with some of the remarks made by leaders of the opposition parties on the abrogation of Article 370. “Some members have made stagnation a virtue. They were stuck in the same old ways, talking about the same old things of the past,” he said.

Earlier in the Lok Sabha, PM Modi said that the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) were misleading the people.

During his reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address in his nearly two-hour-long speech in the Lok Sabha, PM Modi said that even India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was in favour of protecting minorities in Pakistan.

ALSO READ: Was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Communal? Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tears Into Opposition Over CAA Protests

“I want to ask Congress, was Pandit Nehru communal,” PM Modi said as he tore into the Opposition’s stand against the CAA. He also categorically said that nobody needs to be afraid of the CAA. "I want to clearly state - with the CAA coming, there will be no impact on any citizen of India, practising any faith," PM Modi said in the Lok Sabha.

Our vision is: Greater investment

Amid the tension over the economic slowdown and lukewarm response to the Union Budget, PM Modi said, “Our vision is: Greater investment. Better infrastructure. Increased value addition. Maximum job creation.” “We have kept the fiscal deficit in check. Price rise is also under check and there is macro-economic stability. Investor confidence should increase, the country's economy should be strengthened, for this we have also taken several steps,” the Prime Minister said to showcase his government’s policies on reviving the Indian economy.