Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said that the BJP abrogated Article 370 in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into two union territories because there is a Muslim majority in Kashmir. He added that had it been a Hindu majority state, the BJP would not have touched it.
He further accused the BJP of using ‘muscle power’ to revoke Article 370 and said that the international news agencies are covering it but not the Indian media. This is also the line used by various Congress leaders including former party president Rahul Gandhi’s close confidant Sam Pitroda who believed international media that Balakot air strikes were futile instead of Indian armed forces which said that terror camps were destroyed. He added that other states too have special provisions like Article 371, but only Kashmir was singled out because of ‘religious fanaticism’.
Chidambaram also accused the regional parties of supporting BJP government’s move out of ‘fear’. Amusingly, Congress party’s own leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia has supported the move. Another Congress leader and son of last Maharaja of erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir who had signed the Instrument of Accession acceding the state to India, Dr Karan Singh, too, welcomed the abrogation of Article 370.
Last Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah abrogated Article 370 that gave special status to erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir and bifurcated the same into two union territories, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. While most of the country welcomed the move, a few Congress leaders were not too happy with the idea of Jammu and Kashmir being fully integrated into India without any terms and conditions and riders attached.
