The historic decision to bifurcate J&K was announced by Home Minister Amit Shah in the Parliament on August 6 and the two UTs came into being on October 31 – Vallabhbhai Patel’s birth anniversary.
Abrogation of Article 370 led to complete integration of J&K with Indian Union, said the Home Minister while addressing the Parliament and a major benefit of integration is that Indian laws are now applicable throughout J&K and Ladakh.
Abrogation of Article 370 has been a core agenda of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar since the days of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee who had expressed his displeasure at J&K’s special status saying: “Ek desh mein do Vidhan, do Pradhan aur do Nishan nahi chal sakte (There cannot be two Constitutions, two Prime Ministers and two flags in one nation).”
