New dawn, New aspirations take shape in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh

FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF ARTICLE 370 ABROGATION

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Right since 1947, Article 370 has been a bone of contention within India. With the passage of time, within India, the demand for scrapping of the Article grew. After the Bharatiya Jana Sangh was founded in 1951, it became more intense as the party considered it as harmful for overall national integration and encouraged inclusivity.

The demand remained consistent and when the Janata Party came to power in 1977, the Jan Sangh and RSS kept up the demand to junk article 370 and allow full integration of J&K into India. Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee had always opposed the continuation of 370 and despatched myriad letters to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to abrogate it. In the following years, the BJP manifesto loudly demanded the abrogation of Article 370, demanded justice for the Hindu refugees who were victims of violence in the 1980s and 1990s. They were subjected to constant threats, kidnappings and violence. Sheikh Abdullah, the leader of J&K National Conference, refused to entertain any demand for abrogation of article 370. His son Farooq Abdullah and grandson Omar Abdullah too followed suit. But after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, the murmur about the junking of the Article 370 grew but it finally materialised after the Saffron Party formed the government for the second time in 2019 and finally, the Article 370 was scrapped on August 5, 2019.

But the landmark decision of August 5, 2019 ushered a new era of peace, progress, and prosperity in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Over the past four years, numerous initiatives have resulted in a monumental shift in J&K’s growth and ambitions.