NEW DELHI – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly supported his government’s controversial 2019 decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s partial autonomy, days after the territory’s ruling. newly elected lawmakers sought to restore it.

“Only Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution will work in Kashmir… No power in the world can restore Article 370 (partial autonomy) to Kashmir,” Mr. Modi said, referring to one of the founding fathers of the Constitution Indian.

Mr. Modi was speaking at an election rally in the western state of Maharashtra, where Ambedkar was from.

Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government revoked partial autonomy in 2019 and divided the state into two federally administered territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh – a decision to are opposed by many political groups in the Himalayan region.

Jammu and Kashmir held its first local elections in a decade in September and October and newly elected lawmakers passed a resolution this week seeking reinstatement.

Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling National Conference party had promised in its election manifesto that it would restore partial autonomy, although the power to do so rests with Mr. Modi’s federal government.

The new legislators of Jammu and Kashmir can legislate on local issues like other Indian states, except matters relating to public order and maintenance of law and order.

They will also need approval from the federally appointed administrator for all policy decisions with financial implications.

Under the partial self-rule system, Kashmir had its own Constitution and the freedom to legislate on all matters except foreign affairs, defense and communications.

This troubled region, where separatist militants have fought security forces since 1989, is India’s only territory with a Muslim majority.

It has been at the center of a territorial dispute with Pakistan since the neighbors gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

Kashmir is fully claimed but partly governed by India and Pakistan, which fought two of their three wars in the region. REUTERS