New Delhi: Amid apprehension in certain quarters, specially in the North East, Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday assured the far-flung region that the Centre has no plans to change or dilute the provisions of Article 371 related to seven states including Nagaland.
”There are clear differences between Article 370 and Article 371,” Shah replying to the debate on statutory resolution and related Bills concerning Article 370 and bifurcation of state in Union Territories.
”By comparing Article 370 with Article 371, you are misleading the country…while Article 370 was a temporary arrangement, the Article 371 which deals with several states including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram talks about only special provisions,” he said.
Shah stated that these special provisions are only to give some specific benefits to the states.
”There can be no comparison between the two. And I want to assure all the states, including the North East, that the Narendra Modi government has no intention to revoke Article 371,” he maintained.
Earlier during the debate, Manish Tewari of Congress wanted to know from the government what will be the message to the Northeastern states if the government goes ahead and makes Article 370 inoperative in Jammu and Kashmir.
Nagaland has special provisions granted under Article 371 (A) and another North-eastern state Mizoram, which also experienced insurgency in the past, has special provisions granted to it under Article 371 (G).
The development related to Article 370 on Monday vis-a-vis J&K had triggered much anxiety in Nagaland, specially in view of progress made in peace talks between the Centre and NSCN (IM).
In fact, Nagaland Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Y Patton urged people on Monday not to panic due to government decision on Kashmir and said, he would also meet senior central leaders to insist that nothing should be done to harm of the North Eastern People. (UNI)
