'BJS, BJP struggled for long to end J&K special status'

Three generations of Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders had struggled life long to get the special status of Jammu and Kashmir revoked, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday.

Singh also said the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution was on the agenda of the BJS right from the day of its origin and the first major agitation for it in post-independent India was launched by its leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee.

A life-long struggle by three generations of BJS and BJP leaders, a determined will of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the firm resolve of Home Minister Amit Shah enabled the government to move forward on the agenda pending for seven decades, he said at an event where he accepted a felicitation by the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha here.

The minister of state in Prime Minister's Office said BJYM and Delhi enjoy a special connection with the movement launched by Syama Prasad Mookerjee.

It was from Delhi that Mookerjee in March 1953 embarked on his journey to Jammu and Kashmir with a resolve to defy restrictions imposed on entering J&K, he said.

Singh hails from Jammu and Kashmir and represents Udhampur constituency in Lok Sabha.

On August 5, the Central government revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated the state into two Union territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.