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Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during an exclusive interview with NDTV, said that scrapping of Article 370 helped strengthen democracy in Jammu and Kashmir. He said the move sent a clear message to the people of the Valley that they are a part of India.

“Modi ji scrapped Article 370 and sent a message to Valley that you are a part of India and India belongs to you, you belong to India. I believe because of this the foundation of democracy there got stronger, and not just Lok Sabha polls even panchayat polls there there was 90 per cent voting. I believe it is a huge achievement and every Indian should welcome this,” Mr Shah said during a conversation with NDTV’s editor-in-chief Sanjay Pugalia.

Elaborating, Mr Shah said that the BJP government has been so successful in the region that even members of separatist organisations are now casting their votes.

“Some people of Jamaat e-Islami and Hurriyat voted and said they voted under Indian Constitution since there is no J&K Constitution. Jammu and Kashmir is now under Indian Constitution, so I believe Narendra Modi’s Kashmir policy was successful. For so many years, Kashmir was being governed through appeasement politics but not anymore,” the Home Minister said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is hoping to win a third consecutive term. Last phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections will be held on June 1, and results will be declared on June 4.

To a question about BJP’s pitch of winning 400+ seats, Mr Shah said, “When we won the 2014 elections under Narendra Modi’s leadership on the slogan of absolute majority, many political analysts from Delhi had said this was not possible. But we got absolute majority. Then, in 2019, when we gave the slogan of ‘300 plus’, people said it is not possible. People are saying the same this time. But I think they will believe us in the next election before ‘400 par’ is happening this time.”