*Talk of abrogation illogical: Congress
Mir Farhat
Srinagar, May 28: Opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) today said the abrogation of Article 370 amounts to giving people of the Jammu and Kashmir a choice to decide their relation with the rest of the country and triggering another partition.
“Article 370 is the basis of the relationship between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country. If you fiddle with it you will have to renegotiate a new relationship with the people of the State. You are giving people a choice to decide their relation with the country after its abrogation. Is BJP ready to do that? I do not think so,” PDP President Mehbooba Mufti told reporters here.
Mehbooba condemned the statement of Bharatiya Janata Party Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jatindra Singh.
“We condemn the statement even though the Minister retracted from it later,” Mehbooba said.
The newly elected Member of Parliament said that such statements on Kashmir have the potential to divide Jammu and Kashmir on communal lines.
“The State is already divided on communal lines and abrogation of Article 370 means triggering another partition of the country,” she said.
She said BJP should concentrate more on “winning bruised hearts and minds of people who have been emotionally alienated”.
“BJP should try to strengthen Article 370 instead of talking about its abrogation,” she said.
She also appealed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and reassure the people of the State that they would be given a life dignity and respect.
“I hope the PM intervenes and reassures the people of the State that no power on this Earth is going to play with the dignity and the honour of the people of the State. He should address the internal as well as the external dimensions of the Kashmir issue and the people of the State should be able to live with dignity in the country,” she said.
She also slammed Singh for making such statements.
“I hope the Minister makes such statement the last time and will not keep his foot in his mouth,” she said.
The sitting MP from Anantnag said that BJP should not mislead the country over the abrogation of the Article.
“They (BJP) have tried it in the past by discussing it with jurists and experts, but they told them you cannot touch the Article 370,” she said.
Mehbooba also said her party was ready for discussion over the Article.
State Congress unit said BJP could not revoke the article during its earlier Government led by its former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
“This Article has been devised as a bridge between the State and the Union of India. If it was an achievable goal the BJP Government led by Atal Behari Vajpayee would have done it. So, the talk of abrogating Article 370 is illogical,” Prof. Saif-ud-Din Soz, President J&K Pradesh Congress Committee, said.
He said the abrogation of the article will remain a dream for the BJP.
“The fact remains that RSS will be mounting pressure on the Central Government from time to time, but this agenda will remain always a situation of a dream,” he said.
Awami Mutahida Mahaz led by Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami and Hakeem Yasin said the polarizing remarks made by Dr. Jatindra Singh are “not only unwarranted and unacceptable and are fraught with dangerous repercussions”.
“Over the years, the successive Governments at the Centre have eroded and whittled away the scope and content of this Article which acts as a bridge between Jammu and Kashmir and rest of the country. The eroded provisions of the article must be restored at the first instance in order to address the deep alienation and dissatisfaction.”
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