Row erupts over Article 370
Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday asked the Indian central government to come clean on who are the "stakeholders" it was talking about on the contentious issue of revocation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
His comments came a day after minister of state in the PMO Jitendra Singh stirred up a controversy by declaring the new government has started the process for repealing Article 370, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian republic.
Abdullah on Tuesday reacted very sharply to Jitendra Singh's statement asserting that either Article 370 will stay or Kashmir would cease to be a part of the country.
Reacting to Omar's remarks that either J&K won't be part of India or Article 370 that grants special status to the state will still exist, senior RSS leader Ram Madhav said the state will always be an integral part of India with or without the provision.
Madhav also asked whether the chief minister thought the state was his "parental estate" and said no one should take any offence to any "open-ended debate" on Article 370.
Speaking to journalists yesterday , Abdullah said: "We will oppose the move tooth and nail. Since it is the minister of state PMO talking and hence it is a policy matter. They (central government) must come clean and share who are the stakeholders they have talked to."
Omar also made it clear that Article 370 cannot be abrogated till the Constituent Assembly, which approved J&K's accession to India, is recalled, a day after the MoS in the PMO Jitendra Singh stirred a controversy by declaring that the new government has started the process for repealing the provision.
Article 370 specifies that except for defence, foreign affairs, communications and ancillary matters (matters specified in the instrument of accession), the Indian Parliament needs the state government's concurrence for applying all other laws.
Kashmir's Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and Lok Sabha member Mehbooba Mufti too said her party would oppose any move to revoke Article 370.
Comments