Giving the government an emphatic victory, the Lok Sabha passed both the Presidential order to revoke 'discriminatory' provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, with more than three-fourths majority.The treasury benches welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi with slogans of Vande Matram and Bharat Mata Ki Jai when he entered the House towards the end of the debate.Modi was present in the House when Speaker Om Birla announced the enactment of the epoch-making legislation. The government had sailed through the Rajya Sabha hurdle with ease amid a fractured opposition on Monday.Much to the agony of the Opposition, Union Home Minister Amit Shah gave them a patient ear only to later rebut all their arguments. Responding to the debate, Shah who had come fully prepared systematically demolished the points raised by the opposition members one by one.In his historic speech, Shah explained how Article 370 was responsible for pushing the state into the fold of poverty and terrorism and why its removal will bring the state on a par with other states, so it can benefit from central schemes and laws like the Right to Education, the Child Marriage Abolition Act and so on.Though present in the House, Congress top leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi chose not to respond even as the treasury benches said the "monumental mistake" of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had been corrected by PM Modi 70 years later.Rahul Gandhi later broke his silence on Twitter. "National integration isn't furthered by unilaterally tearing apart J&K, imprisoning elected representatives and violating our Constitution. This nation is made by its people, not plots of land. This abuse of executive power has grave implications for our national security," he tweeted.Incidentally, many of his close colleagues including Milind Deora, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jaiveer Shergill distanced themselves from the party line and hailed the abrogation of Article 370."I support the move on #JammuAndKashmir & #Ladakh and its full integration into union of India," he tweeted. However, he said that it would have been better if constitutional process was followed as no questions could have been raised then. "Nevertheless, this is in our country's interest and I support this," he added.Facing one of the worst dilemmas of how to counter Modi government's masterstroke which will have far-reaching consequences on the electoral prospects, the Opposition slowly whittled away.This was reflected in the final division that witnessed walkout by Trinamool Congress and many DMK members. The division on Presidential order got through with 351 votes in favour and 72 against, while on the JK reorganisation bill, 366 members voted in favour and 66 against it.

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