Mehbooba Mufti, President of Peoples Democratic Party, said on Monday, April 8, that abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution would result in Jammu and Kashmir’s “freedom” from India. Jammu and Kashmir is granted special status by the article.
“If you free Jammu and Kashmir from Article 370, you will free the state from country as well,” she said PTI. “I have said many times that Article 370 links Jammu and Kashmir with the country. When you break this bridge, India loses its legitimacy over the state. It becomes an occupational force.”
“There will be no Jammu and Kashmir or India left”
Mufti, the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was responding to a promise that was made in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto for the 2019 General Elections to abrogate Article 370 and scrap Article 35A of the Constitution. According to Mufti, the BJP-led government has not succeeded in any area, be it farmer issues, unemployment or price rise, and is therefore trying to find ways to gain votes.
Mufti said that the entire region could be threatened if there is any change in the status of Jammu and Kashmir. She said that the Pulwama terror attack gave us a glimpse of the fact that the region is a “heap of explosives”. She further said that if the BJP goes on giving such statements and having such intentions, Jammu and Kashmir will go up in flames, and no India will be left, reported Scroll.in. “If you will light a spark, everything will go up in flames… there will be no Jammu and Kashmir or India left,” she said.
Responding to reports that a case filed in the Delhi High Court seeks to debar her and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah from the elections because of their comments, she tweeted that if the BJP scraps Article 370, they will automatically be debarred from fighting elections as Indian Constitution will no longer be applicable to Jammu and Kashmir.
Why waste time in court. Wait for BJP to scrap Article 370. It will automatically debar us from fighting elections since Indian constitution won’t be applicable to J&K anymore. Na samjho gay tou mit jaouge aye Hindustan walo. Tumhari dastaan tak bhi na hogi dastaano main. https://t.co/3mvp2lndv2
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 8, 2019
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, meanwhile, slammed Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik for claiming that there is no threat to Article 370 and Article 35A.
Omar Abdullah also retweeted what Congress leader Salman Anees Soz wrote, saying that since 2009, BJP has been promising to safely return Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley, and scrapping of Article 370 since 1984.
1984: Article 3701989: Article 3701991: Article 3701996: Article 3701998: Article 3702004: Article 3702009: Article 3702014: Article 3702019: Article 370#BJPJumlaManifesto
— Salman Anees Soz (@SalmanSoz) April 8, 2019
2009 version: Safe return of Kashmiri Pandits2014 version: Safe return of Kashmiri Pandits2019 version: Safe return of Kashmiri Pandits
Meanwhile, national highway closed to civilian traffic 2 days in a week. First time in 30 years of militancy. Safe?#BJPJumlaManifesto
— Salman Anees Soz (@SalmanSoz) April 8, 2019
Farooq Abdullah, three time chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and president of National Conference (NC), also said that scrapping of Article 370 will result in paving way for “Azadi” for the state’s people.
Abdullah, while addressing an election rally in Munawarabad area of Downtown Srinagar, said, “Do they (New Delhi) think that they will abrogate Article 370 and we will be quiet? They are wrong. We will fight against it. I think it’s Allah’s will that they are trying to abrogate it. Let them do it and it will pave way for our Azadi.”
What BJP leaders said
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, April 9, BJP leaders said that Kashmir Valley leaders are playing with emotions of people over Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution.
“The two articles have been used by politicians like Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Ghulam Nabi Azad and half a dozen other leaders to further their personal agenda,” State BJP President Ravinder Raina said. Business Standard reported that he further said that these leaders have basically achieved to keep ruling the state, in the name of protecting the articles.
“We have West Pakistan refugees who are denied citizenship rights because of these provisions. The state has been deeply and emotionally divided by selfish politicians… Such leaders continue to play with emotions on such issues,” former Deputy Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kavinder Gupta said.
Text of Article 35A
Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution, no existing law in force in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and no law hereafter enacted by the Legislature of the State:
defining the classes of persons who are, or shall be, permanent residents of the State of Jammu and Kashmir; or conferring on such permanent residents any special rights a…
