Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and former Supreme Court justice Arun Kumar Mishra on Tuesday heaped praises on Union home minister Amit Shah for his “untiring efforts” that he said had ushered in a “new era” of peace and law and order in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast.

Speaking at the 28th foundation day of the rights body, the former judge also spoke about how common it had become for “external forces” to level “false” allegations of human rights abuses against India and that needed to be “opposed”.

“I am pleased to greet Union Minister Amit Shah ji. Your untiring efforts have ushered in a new era of peace, and law and order in Jammu and Kashmir, and the northeast,” justice (retd) Mishra said.

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On August 5, 2019, Shah had declared in Parliament the abrogation of articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution that gave Jammu & Kashmir a special status, and divided the state into two UTs — J&K and Ladakh.

When the Rajya Sabha had approved a resolution on abrogating Article 370 amid loud protests from some of the Opposition parties, Shah had said, “Article 370 is the biggest hurdle to normalcy in the state”.

Allaying the Opposition’s fears of a deteriorating law and order over the move, Shah had then said, “nothing will happen” and the region would not be allowed to turn into another battle-torn Kosovo.

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Following his announcement, curfew was imposed and internet services remained suspended for a long time, amid protests from several quarters, with a few human rights groups expressing apprehensions over the issue. A large number of mainstream politicians, including former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, were detained and kept under hose arrest for months.

The former apex court judge, who had taken charge as the new chairperson of the NHRC on June 2 this year, had earlier raised a controversy while praising the PM during his tenure as a judge of the Supreme Court. 

Speaking at the International Judicial Conference 2020, he had termed Modi as an “internationally acclaimed visionary” and a “versatile genius, who thinks globally and acts locally”.

Meanwhile, Shah, in his address, said the central government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had been relentlessly working for the welfare of poor, backwards and deprived sections of society, thus protecting their human rights.

Modi, who was the chief guest on the occasion, warned against engaging in “selective interpretation” of human rights with an eye on political gains and loss, saying such conduct harms human rights as well as democracy.

During the address, the NHRC chief also said India had emerged as a powerful entity on a global level, and it had earned recognition as a new power, and the credit went to “people of India, the country’s constitutional system and the leadership”.

Later, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh alleged that the democratic space in India continued to “shrink”.

“The PM & HM have made a mockery of human rights since their Gujarat days. Now they are joined in the jugalbandi by Chairman of NHRC no less, a judge who sat in judgment on his own earlier order and claimed no conflict of interest. The democratic space in India continues to shrink,” he wrote in a tweet.

(With agency inputs)