NEW DELHI: Statehood in Jammu and Kashmir will be restored as promised before, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said, without giving any timeline.
Speaking at the “Times Now Summit 2025” on Friday night, Shah said that Assembly elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir peacefully last year.
“We have given the assurance that statehood will be restored. From the very beginning, we have said that statehood would be given. But it can’t be disclosed when it will be given at a public forum,” he said when asked about the timeline for restoration of statehood.
When Article 370 was abrogated and the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two Union territories in 2019, the Union Home Minister had said in Parliament that statehood of Jammu and Kashmir would be restored at an appropriate time.
“This was the first election in Kashmir after 40 years in which there was no re-polling in any place. Not a single tear gas or bullet was fired. Sixty per cent people exercised their franchise, this is a huge change,” he said.
In other remarks at the same summit, Shah who has had a successful stint as the BJP president, exuded confidence that the BJP will remain in power at the Centre for at least 30 years due to its consistent performance.
In a democracy, he said, the victory of any party depends on its hard work and if it toils day in and day out and “if you live not for yourself but for the country, victory will be yours”.
“When I was the national president of the BJP, I had said the BJP will remain in power for the next 30 years. Only 10 years have gone now,” he said.
The senior BJP leader said when a party performs well, it gets the trust of the public and the confidence to win. “But those who do not perform do not have this confidence,” he said.
Asked about the Uniform Civil Code, the Union Home Minister said all BJP-ruled states will introduce the UCC one-by-one as it is one of the key agendas of the BJP since was formed.
Shah said since its inception, the BJP’s resolve has been to introduce the UCC in the country. “It will come. It was the decision of the Constituent Assembly (to introduce UCC). The Congress might have forgotten it but we have not. We said we would abrogate Article 370. We have done that. We said we would construct a Ram temple at Ayodhya. We have done that too. Now UCC remains. We will do that too,” he said.
Shah said the Uttarakhand government has already enacted the law for implementation of the UCC in the state. “One by one, all the BJP-ruled state governments will introduce it. Gujarat has already set up a committee for it. It is an ongoing process. All states will bring it as per their convenience,” he said.