Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 22: While flaying BJP for duplicity and double dealing in view of its support to PDP’s stand over Article- 35A in the Supreme Court besides dichotomous statements issued by its leaders at different places and on different occasions pertaining to the Article, scores of Panthers activists led by Harsh Dev Singh, chairman NPP, staged a protest demonstration against the Saffron party at Exhibition Ground here today.
The agitated protesters amid raising anti- BJP slogans set ablaze its effigy and sought an explanation from its leaders for having cheated the people of Jammu region during elections over Article- 35A.
Flaying the BJP for its hypocrisy and treachery over the issue, Harsh Dev Singh said that repeal of Art 35A which formed a part of BJP’s ideological DNA was brazenly trumpeted not only by its senior Central leaders during the elections but its State leaders were also seeking its abrogation describing it as illegal and unconstitutional.
“Surprisingly their own Govt in the State had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court supporting the stand of the PDP wherein, it described Art 35A as an established law having been ‘considered, deliberated and decided’ by the Supreme Court. The BJP-PDP Govt have indicated in their affidavit before the Supreme Court that the issue of Art 35A has already been adjudicated on two occasions by separate constitution benches in Puran Lal lakhampal case in 1962 and Sampat Parkash case in 1969.
The affidavit of BJP-PDP filed in Supreme Court further sought the dismissal of the petition seeking abrogation of Art 35A, on the ground that the petitioner was trying to ‘re-agitate the settled issues’ and that the petition was ‘legally misconceived’ to ‘upset settled law accepted and complied with by all’. The affidavit of the BJP-PDP coalition further described Art 35A as permanent feature of the constitution”, Harsh Dev added.
Expressing shock over the recent disappearance of a 63 year old key file on Article 35A from the high security vaults of North Block in New Delhi, Singh smelled a deep rooted conspiracy over the strange incident at a time when the Supreme Court was hearing the petition seeking the abrogation of the obnoxious Article which barred Indians other than State subjects from acquiring the land in J&K.
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