NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that removal of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution will lead to end of terrorism and progress of the region. Speaking at the launch of a book on Vice President M Venkiah Naidu here, Shah said he firmly believed that Article 370 that gave the special status to Jammu and Kashmir should be removed as it was not beneficial to the country.

"I was firm that Article 370 should be removed.... after (scrapping)  Article 370, terrorism in Kashmir will end and it will progress on the path of development," he said.

India on Monday revoked Article 370 of the Constitution to withdraw the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, and the state has been under complete lockdown for the past six days.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday night that some reports have come in from Jammu and Kashmir about violence there and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi must assuage concerns over the matter in a "transparent" manner.

He said the deliberations of the Congress Working Committee on the party's leadership issue were briefly stopped for a presentation on the reports on J-K.

"I was called just now by the CWC because some reports have come in that some things are going very wrong in Jammu and Kashmir, there is violence and people are dying there."

"So we stopped our deliberation on the Congress President issue and we have a presentation on what was going in Jammu and Kashmir".

It is very important that the government of India and Prime Minister make it very clear what is happening in Union Territory of J&K and Ladakh," he said. The government needs to explain reports that are coming in and assuage the country and tell the country exactly what is happening and be completely transparent, Gandhi said.