New Delhi: Claiming that the Narendra Modi government maintains a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that after the scrapping of Article 370 in Kashmir, the involvement of Indian youth with terrorists in the Union Territory has almost disappeared. He was speaking in the Rajya Sabha during a discussion on the working of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The minister also asserted that terrorist glorification, which was once common under UPA rule, has ended in Kashmir.
“Ten years ago, funeral processions for terrorists were common, and people would glorify them. But now, when terrorists are killed, they are buried on the spot. Their relatives, who once enjoyed government perks, have been ruthlessly removed from government posts to send a strong message,” he added..
“Terrorists used to enter Kashmir from the neighbouring country, they used to execute bomb blasts and murders here. There was not one festival which used to be celebrated without any worry. Central Governments had a flexible attitude. They used to be quiet and were scared of speaking…They were worried about their vote bank. After PM Narendra Modi came to power, we displayed a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism. There were attacks even after we came to power – on Uri and Pulwama…Within 10 days, we entered Pakistan and gave them a reply through airstrike and surgical strike…The zero-tolerance policy against terrorism started there. Article 370 was the base for separatism in Kashmir…But Article 370 was removed in Parliament on 5th August 2019…,” he added.
Shifting his focus to the naxal issue, the home minister said: “…What happens when there is a government which considers naxalism a political issue and what happens when a government which works for security as well as development comes to power…When BJP came to power in Chhattisgarh in December 2023, after that, 380 naxals were killed in just a year while 30 naxals killed yesterday (Thursday) have not been added to this. 1194 were arrested and 1045 surrendered. The number (of active naxals) went down by 2619. In these operations, 26 security personnel died. This is the same Chhattisgarh, same Police, same CRPF and same Govt of India. It was just the Congress Govt in power there…This is a question of approach,” he added.