NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday took a sharp jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while speaking in the Rajya Sabha on counter-terrorism operations and development in Jammu and Kashmir under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
With a ‘Kala Chashma’ (black glasses) remark, Amit Shah accused Rahul Gandhi of refusing to acknowledge the development work done by the Modi government. The home minister said, “If someone is sitting with black glasses on, how is it possible to show them the development?”
During his speech, Shah said, “They ask us — ‘What happened after the abrogation of Article 370?’ Saheb, development can only be seen by those with open hearts and clear vision. Those who sit with black glasses on and their eyes closed cannot see the progress in Jammu and Kashmir.”
The home minister, referencing Rahul Gandhi’s 2023 statement about his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kashmir, said, “He went to Kashmir, played Holi of snow, and then claimed he saw terrorists there.”
“Arre bhai, nazar mein hi aatankwadi hai toh sapne mein bhi aayega aur Kashmir mein bhi” (If a terrorist is in your mind, he will appear in your dreams as well as in Kashmir), he added.
“Whenever we see a terrorist, we shoot him between the eyes,” Shah said, emphasizing the Modi government’s zero-tolerance policy on terrorism.
Shah was referring to Rahul Gandhi’s 2023 remarks at Cambridge University, where Gandhi recalled facing terrorists during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Rahul had said that security forces in Kashmir advised him not to walk in the region due to fears of terror attacks.
During the walk, an unknown man allegedly approached him, pointed toward some nearby individuals, and revealed that they were terrorists.
“I thought I was in trouble because, in that situation, terrorists would kill me. But they did nothing because this is the power of listening,” Rahul Gandhi had said.
Shah, while responding to a debate in the Rajya Sabha on the functioning of the Home Ministry, asserted that the Narendra Modi government had fulfilled the vision of the Constitution’s architects by abrogating Article 370.
“Article 370 was the foundation of separatism in Kashmir. However, I thank the architects of our Constitution for making it a temporary provision and incorporating a pathway for its abrogation within the Article itself,” Shah said.
He blamed vote bank politics and political rigidity for the prolonged existence of Article 370. “On August 5, 2019, we finally abrogated Article 370, realizing the vision of our Constitution’s framers, who believed there should be no two heads of state, two constitutions, or two flags in one country,” he stated.