agencies
Jammu, August 10: Blaming Article 370 of the Constitution for the creation of a “separatist psyche”, the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP said Thursday that the time has come for the people of the state to say goodbye to it and also to Article 35 A.
Both these articles, instead of being beneficial to the people of the state, have done great damage and hampered progress and development, said J&K BJP spokesperson Prof Virender Gupta. “The time has come when the people of Jammu and Kashmir should say goodbye to Article 370 and ask the Government of India to revoke Article 35 A,” he said.
The prevailing situation in the Valley shows that Article 370 has created a “separatist psyche” and acts as a breeding ground for “separatist emotion”, Gupta said. Article 370 grants special status to J&K, while Article 35 A, added to the Indian Constitution through a presidential order, empowers the J&K legislature to define the state’s “permanent residents” and their special rights and privileges.
Article 35 A has come under focus after two Kashmiri women approached the Supreme Court challenging it. They contended that it had disenfranchised their children. The BJP is a part of the ruling alliance in J&K where it has partnered the PDP. However the saffron party’s views on Article 370 and Article 35 A appear at variance with its ally. At a recent event in Delhi, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had said that if Article 35 A was tinkered with, there will be no one in Kashmir to uphold the national flag. Opposition National Conference (NC) has also spoken against any attempt to tamper with these provisions. However, according to the BJP spokesperson, Article 370 is responsible for keeping the settled issue of J&K alive and encourages the external forces to interfere in the internal matters of India.
| Mehbooba meets Rajnath Singh New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti Thursday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh amid reports that she had come to the national capital to drum up support for preventing attempts to remove special status to the state under the Constitution. The meeting lasted for nearly 45 minutes, officials said without elaborating about the topics that were discussed. The meeting comes in the backdrop of growing pressure on Mehbooba, who is caught in a catch-22 situation over the ongoing matter in the Supreme Court on revoking Article 35-A of the Constitution that grants special status to the state. |
