By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
The BJP leaders are losing no opportunity to score some brownie points on the abrogation of Article 370 especially when the Bihar elections are round the corner.
On Oct 31, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who fulfilled Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s dream of a unified India by abrogating Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir.
Flagging off the ‘Run for Unity’ on the 150th birth anniversary of the country’s first home minister Sardar Patel at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi, Shah said that after India’s independence, the British decided to leave the country divided into 562 princely states.
“At that time, the entire world thought that it would be impossible to unite these 562 princely states into one nation. However, within a short span of time, Sardar Patel accomplished the monumental task of integrating all 562 princely states, and the map of modern India that we see today is the result of his vision and efforts,” he said.
“The only task that remained incomplete was Kashmir’s full integration with India due to Article 370, but Prime Minister Modi fulfilled that unfinished task of Sardar Patel — and today, we have before us a truly unified India,” he said.
But interestingly Shah did not say what stand Sardar Patel took on the implementation of Article 370. In fact, it was Sardar Patel who was given the responsibility to bring the controversial bill in Parliament as Nehru was in US at that time. And Sardar Patel readily accepted the responsibility without any opposition. I remember hearing this episode of the history from my father late D C Prashant (Ex MP ), on many occasions. My father (when he was alive) had stated that Nehru left New Delhi on the crucial day when the bill on the Article 370 was brought in Parliament. This fact has also been highlighted in the past by former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.
According to experts, Nehru was also not in favour of continuing the Article 370 for a long period. In fact, Nehru once said “yeh Article 370 ghis ghis ke khatm ho jaye ga (the Article 370 will wear out one day). The Article 370 was finally abrogated by the BJP government headed by Modi in 2019, a move later upheld by the Supreme Court.