Narendra Modi: "August 5 this year assumes even greater significance as this is the year the…"

Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked the seventh anniversary of India’s 2019 revocation of Article 370, which stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and divided the state into two union territories. Speaking on Wednesday, Modi said August 5 also holds special meaning this year because it falls in the 125th anniversary year of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the BJP’s forerunner, who had campaigned against Article 370. Modi said Mookerjee’s goal was fulfilled on that date in 2019, and that since then the regions have seen infrastructure growth and new opportunities in education, healthcare, entrepreneurship and sports, with previously marginalized people gaining constitutional rights. He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to developing both territories.