"Bold", "historic" and "monumental" -- this is how BJP leaders described on Monday the government's decision to revoke Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, with party president Amit Shah asserting that it has corrected a long-overdue "historic wrong".
Party leaders also fondly remembered their ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee, who had died in a Jammu and Kashmir jail in 1953. He had been arrested for entering the state illegally to protest the state's special status and demand its complete integration with the Union.
Its working president J P Nadda said the Narendra Modi government has paid Mookerjee a "true tribute", adding that the country will always celebrate this historic occasion as a festival.
"This decision is a tribute to all the patriots who made the supreme sacrifice for a united India... Today, Modi government has corrected a long overdue historic wrong," Shah said.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the revocation of Article 370 will be a historic step and usher in an era of development in Jammu and Kashmir.
Asserting that separate status led to separatism, senior party leader Arun Jaitley said that no dynamic nation can allow this situation to continue.
"A historical wrong has been undone today. Article 35A came through the back door without following the procedure under Article 368 of the Constitution of India. It had to go," he said.
"The decision of the government will help the people of Jammu and Kashmir the most. More investment, more industry, more private educational institutions, more jobs and more revenue will come," he said.
Kashmir's regional leaders now feel that they will not be able to whip up the fake issue of 'sentiment verses benefit to the people', Jaitley said.
"A bold and historic decision. We salute our Great India - one India," former foreign minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted.
BJP leader Ram Madhav hailed the government's decision on Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and said the martyrdom of its idealogue Syama Prasad Mookerjee for complete integration of the state into India has been "honoured".
The national general secretary and the party's point person in the state said the complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir was a longstanding demand of the nation.
"What a glorious day. Finally the martyrdom of thousands starting with Dr Shyam Prasad Mukherjee for complete integration of J&K into Indian Union is being honoured and the seven decade old demand of the entire nation being realised in front of our eyes; in our lifetime. Ever imagined?" he tweeted moments after Shah made the announcement in Parliament.
Amidst acrimonious scenes in Parliament, the government also moved a bill proposing bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two separate union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
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