Narendra Modi vows to remove Kashmir’s special rights
India’s prime minister makes an election promise which could cause widespread unrest in the Muslim-majority state of Kashmir
New Delhi — India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Monday it would remove decades-old special rights for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, making an election promise that could provoke a backlash in the country’s volatile only Muslim majority state. “Nationalism is our inspiration,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the release of the BJP’s election manifesto at the party headquarters in New Delhi. Modi’s BJP has consistently advocated ending Kashmir’s special constitutional status, which prevents outsiders from buying property in the state, arguing that such laws have hindered its integration with the rest of the country. “We believe that Article 35A is an obstacle in the development of the state,” the BJP manifesto said, referring to the 1954 amendment to the constitution. Political leaders in Muslim-majority Kashmir, where India is fighting an armed insurgency against its rule, have warned that repealing the law would lead to widespread unrest. Voting in...
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