Article 370 different, Centre will not touch Article 371, asserts Amit Shah in Guwahati

New Delhi, Sep 08: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on September 8 asserted that the Centre will not touch Article 371 which grants special provisions to the North East.

Article 370 was clearly temporary in nature but Article 371 is about special provisions in the North East and there is a vast difference between the two, Shah said while addressing the 68th plenary session of the North East Council.

"After abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, there were attempts to misinform and misguide the people of North East that Article 371 would also be scrapped by the Centre", he said.

"I have clarified in Parliament that this is not going to happen and I am saying it again today in the presence of eight chief ministers of North East that the Centre will not touch Article 371", Shah added.

The NEC was established by North Eastern Council Act, 1971, initially as an apex-level advisory body for securing balanced and coordinated development and facilitating effective co-ordination amongst seven states of the northeastern region -- Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

Subsequent to the amendment of the NEC Act in December 2002, Sikkim was added as the eighth member state, and the NEC was mandated to function as a statutory regional planning body for the region.

Reportedly, he will also have a separate meeting with Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, top government functionaries and senior BJP leadership of the state.