Modi’s BJP vows to remove Kashmir’s special rights in India election manifesto

India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party said on Monday it would remove decades-old special rights for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The election promise could provoke a backlash in the country’s volatile, and only Muslim majority, state, Reuters said. “Nationalism is our inspiration,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the release of the BJP’s election manifesto in New Delhi. Modi’s BJP has consistently advocated ending Kashmir’s special constitutional status, which prevents outsiders from buying property in the state. The party is arguing that such laws have hindered the state’s integration with the rest of the country. “We believe that Article 35A is an obstacle in the development of the state,” the BJP manifesto said, referring to the 1954 amendment to the constitution. Political leaders in Kashmir, where India is fighting an armed insurgency against its rule, have warned that repealing the law would lead to widespread unrest.