Srinagar, Sep 12: Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz on Monday in a statement said that many in Jammu and Kashmir feel that the narrative of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who recently resigned from the Congress to launch his own party, is no different than that of the BJP.
Soz said if Azad were a student of history, he would know that “the primary proposition is that the people were always known for the vitality of their struggle for achieving the goal, rather than the goal itself”.
“To the best of my knowledge, the Central government had no authority to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution of India on August 5, 2019, unilaterally,” Soz said.
“The Central government did it because it believes more in muscle power rather than in constitutional values!
“Since that date of high-handedness on the part of the Central government, i.e., August 5, 2019 when it abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution of India, the people of the J&K State have started a democratic, peaceful and sustained struggle for the restoration of the Constitutional position!”
Soz said the premier party in the J&K mainstream political class has additionally approached the Supreme Court for restoration of the Article 370 of the Constitution of India.
Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Sunday (September 11) that he has not promised restoration of Article 370 in his new political agenda because he doesn’t believe in making false promises.
Addressing a public meeting in north Kashmir’s Baramulla town, Azad said, “To restore Article 370 would need around 350 votes in the Lok Sabha and 175 votes in the Rajya Sabha. “This is a number no political party has or is likely to ever get. The Congress has shrunken to less than 50 seats and if they speak of restoring Article 370, they are making false promises.”
He said his political agenda includes restoration of statehood, land and jobs for the locals as these are achievable objectives.
IANS