In a rebuff to Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy, Union home minister Amit Shah said the progress made in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 would be better understood by him when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government will be in power in West Bengal. Shah was responding to the questions raised in connection with the revocation of statehood of Jammu and Kashmir as well as the amendment Bills introduced in the Lok Sabha on reorganisation and reservation in the Union Territory.

Amit Shah was speaking on the completion of developmental projects in the region such as the construction of two AIIMS, IIT and IIM following the revocation of Article 370 and the imposition of President’s Rule. He was reading out facts when Opposition leaders, including the TMC MP, raised to object his claims.

“You could’ve made all this (development) only by imposing President’s Rule. There was no need for the removal of Article 370 for this,” Roy said.

Responding to the TMC MP, Shah said there was a reduction in cases of terrorism which resulted in the normalcy of the situation in the region after the Article was removed. This eventually led to all the development, he added. “You won’t understand. When our (BJP) government will come to power in West Bengal and the situation in the state will improve and development will take place, then you will understand.”

The two Bills, which was been passed in the Lok Sabha, seek to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019, and reserve two seats for Kashmiri migrants and one seat for displaced people from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the Union territory’s legislative assembly. These members will be nominated by the L-G, according to the provisions of the Bill.