Had apprehensions regarding functioning of house while introducing law scrapping Art 370: Amit Shah

Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday reiterated his firm commitment and belief on abrogation of Article 370 while revealing that though he had faith in the outcomes of scrapping Article 370, he too had several apprehensions regarding the functioning of the Upper House when the Bill was introduced.

Speaking at a book launch event on the two-year tenure of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Shah said, "As the Vice-President and Chairman of Rajya Sabha, he was chairing the session of the Upper House when the law regarding abrogation of Article 370 was introduced. But while piloting the Bill, I had a lot of apprehension as to when I will introduce the bill, how will the house function? We do not have a full majority in Rajya Sabha, but I decided that still, I will introduce Bill first in Rajya Sabha."

Stating that he had apprehensions in his heart of becoming part of an ugly scene, Shah said, "With such fear and feeling, I stood in the Rajya Sabha but it was the meticulous directions of Venkaiah Naidu that from listening to views of the opposition friends to the division of votes, the Bill has to nowhere face any incident which could make people of India feel that dignity of the Upper house has been lowered."

He also said that as a legislator, he firmly believed that Article 370 has never helped the country of Jammu and Kashmir and should have been removed long ago.

"As a Home Minister, there was no confusion in my mind about the consequences of removing Art 370. I am confident terrorism in Kashmir will finish and it will move ahead on the path of development now", Shah said.

The book captures glimpses of vice-president's 330 public engagements during his two-year tenure in office and has been titled "Listening, learning and leading".

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami were also present during the function.

-ANI