Jammu, Feb 27 (IANS) Union Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale said on Thursday that the abrogation of Article 370 strengthened development and ended terrorism in J&K.

The minister is on a visit to review the progress of centrally sponsored schemes meant for the development of the J&K.

Addressing a media conference, the minister said: “There was a time when tourists were afraid of visiting Jammu and Kashmir, but that has changed after the revocation of Article 370. PM Narendra Modi led government has taken a lot of important decisions and the abrogation of Article 370 was a very big step which strengthened development in J&K, ended terrorism and generated employment opportunities besides establishing peace and paving the way for unfurling the tricolour.”

He added that earlier, people were afraid of visiting J&K but the situation changed after Article 370 was revoked and more than 2.5 million tourists visited the union territory last year.

“The increase in tourism means more development for the region. It was a very good decision to revoke Article 370. Now the people want us to give the status of a state to J&K,” he said.

He added that when the Home Minister Amit Shah announced the removal of Article 370, he also announced that J&K’s statehood would be restored at an appropriate time.

“Jammu and Kashmir will get the status of a state soon and all of the people’s problems will be resolved,” he said.

Athawale lauded the highest voter turnout in Jammu and Kashmir in the Assembly elections held last year.

“Though the alliance of the NC and the Congress came to power, it hardly matters to us as we are with the people and want the region’s development,” he said.

Asked about the rape of a 26-year-old woman in a bus at the busy Swargate depot in Pune, Athawale said such incidents are condemnable and heart-wrenching.

“We demand that the culprits behind such incidents be hanged. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has already directed police to speed up the investigation and bring the culprit to book,” he claimed.

He said that the society needs to come forward to counter such incidents which are increasing.

“The people behind such incidents should be boycotted as we are seeing atrocities being committed on even three to four-year-old children. It is the responsibility of parents and families to ensure that their children get a good education,” he said.

On the opposition to the imposition of Hindi in Tamil Nadu, Athawale said the introduction of Hindi in the southern state should not be opposed as it will harm the country’s unity and integrity.

“Hindi is spoken by almost 90 to 100 crore people while state state-level languages are restricted to particular areas. So there is no harm in introducing Hindi anywhere,” he said.

–IANS

sq/dan