The decision to strip Indian-administered Kashmir of its autonomous status would free it of "terrorism," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a televised address Thursday.
Modi claimed that Article 370, a constitutional provision which had granted special status and powers to the state, had caused "separatism, terrorism, dynastic politics and corruption." "As a nation, we have taken a historic decision," Modi said. "Due to the past system, the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were deprived of many rights, which was a major obstacle in their development. That is now over."
India's parliament voted on Tuesday to reclassify the state of Jammu and Kashmir as a union territory, giving the government in New Delhi greater authority over the country's only Muslim-majority region.
