New Delhi: The Congress may be going against the tide with party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad strongly opposing the government’s move to repeal Article 370 and bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories (UTs).
Participating in the discussion on the bill proposed by Home Minister Amit Shah, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Rajya Sabha Azad said that the government had sought to disintegrate the country.
He said that the people of J&K are not with the Centre. The senior Congress leader said people of Kashmir had chosen to stay with secular India but the BJP government had “disintegrated” the country. Azad said that with the proposed resolution, the number of states in the country would come down from 29 to 28.
“We went from Prime Minister to Chief Minister, now we’re at Lt. Governor. You’ve made the Governor a clerk. You’ve made Jammu and Kashmir a non-entity. Bring this to your state and see what happens,” he told Shah.
Even as the ruling BJP is gung-ho on revoking article 370 hoping for all-out support from the opposition, the road ahead may not be smooth with many opposition parties expressing reservations on the way the state of J&K has been proposed to be divided into two union territories.
The TMC leader Derek O’Brien said that it was a “dark Monday” and a mockery of the Constitution has been made. He appealed to leaders of other regional parties to oppose the way government had brought the resolution and bills pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir.
Samajwadi Party member Ram Gopal Yadav also opposed the government’s move to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two UTs.
However, several other parties such as BSP, AAP, AIADMK, YSRCP and BJD have backed the government.
A fatal error: Chidambaram
Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Monday said the splitting of Jammu and Kashmir was a fatal error and it sent a “very wrong signal” to other states. “You are dismembering a state. You think you are doing it to J&K but what you are doing to J&K using these provisions, misinterpreting, in fact I can go to say mischievously misinterpreting the provisions, what can be done to J&K, can be done to any other state,” Chidambaram said in the Rajya Sabha. “I appeal to the Home Minister to, even at this late stage, stop, pause. Reflect on what you are doing,” he added.
Kejriwal supports Centre
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday supported the Union government on scrapping Article 370 of the Constitution and to give Jammu and Kashmir a Union Territory status, saying he hopes the steps will bring peace and development to the state. “We support the government on its decisions on J&K. We hope this will bring peace and development in the state,” the Aam Aadmi Party leader tweeted.
Murder of democracy: Left parties
The Left parties on Monday lashed out at the government for revoking Article 370, saying that it was the “murder of democracy” and will serve to only to further “alienate” the people of the region. “What the government has done is regressive and will further alienate the people of Jammu and Kashmir. This is the murder of democracy,” CPI general secretary D Raja said. The CPI(M) termed the move an “attack” on the Constitution and said the Left parties will hold a protest against the move on Monday.
PDP MPs tear Constitution
Registering their protest against the scrapping of Article 370, PDP MPs Mir Fayaz and Nazir Ahmed Laway on Monday tore up the Constitution in the Rajya Sabha, leading to their ouster from the House.
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu directed the marshals to remove the slogan-shouting PDP members from Rajya Sabha. (Agencies)
