PM Modi to address nation today at 8 pm, expected to talk about Article 370

PM Modi has advised his ministerial colleagues that there is no room for triumphalism and reminded them that it’s now that the heavy-lifting begins, sources told The Indian Express.

By: Express Web Desk

New Delhi | Updated: August 8, 2019 06:00 PM IST

3 min read

Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on Thursday at 8 pm during which he is expected to talk about government’s decisions on scrapping the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir by modifying Article 370 of the Constitution and splitting the state into two Union Territories — Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

On Wednesday, as the Union Cabinet proceeded to approve a proposal to honour BJP’s oldest ideological commitment of stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its special status, PM Modi advised his ministerial colleagues that there is no room for triumphalism and reminded them that it’s now that the heavy-lifting begins, sources told The Indian Express.

“It is a big day for the country. We should demonstrate foresight and statesmanship to take everyone along on this,” said a source about Modi’s message to the Cabinet on the morning of August 5 while approving Home Minister Amit Shah’s proposal to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and bifurcate the state into two Union Territories. “Everyone clapped and congratulated when the proposal was put forward and approved in the Cabinet meeting,” said the source.

Before this message to Cabinet colleagues, Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had already done crucial spadework to get the proposal cleared by both Houses of Parliament.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah made the announcement Monday. While the Ladakh UT will be without a legislature, the UT of J&K will be with legislature. Shah read out the President’s Order in this regard. Apart from NDA allies, BJP’s rivals like BSP and AAP, and fence-sitters like Naveen Patnaik’s BJD, Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP and Bodoland People’s Front (BDF) supported the Bill. JD(U), Congress, TMC, DMK, PDP and Vaiko’s MDMK, meanwhile, vehemently opposed the move.

Last time, the prime minister had addressed the nation on March 27 during the Lok Sabha elections when he announced that India had demonstrated anti-satellite missile (A-Sat) capability by shooting down a live satellite.

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