JOIN USBJP spotlights Article 370 as poll dates near in Bihar
With just five days left for the first phase of polls in Bihar, BJP has brought in the issue of abrogation of Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir in the poll discourse, putting the Opposition in a quandary on how to react on this issue.
In Srinagar, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, erstwhile BJP ally which was dumped by the saffron party in 2018, reacted sharply accusing the BJP of resorting to this for votes. She said the BJP has "nothing to show to ask for votes" and hence she alleged that "they say you can buy land in Jammu and Kashmir as we have abrogated Article 370. Today PM Modi had to speak of Article 370 for votes."
Sharing the dais with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in election rallies in the state, Modi on Friday came down heavily on the Opposition over its stand on Article 370 asking the voters whether the country was not waiting for Article 370 to be scrapped?
"When the NDA government did that, they are talking about restoring the provision if they are back in power," Modi said alluding to remarks of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram and CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury without naming them. Congress and Left are in alliance with the principal Opposition party RJD in Bihar.
Chidambaram had on October 16 said, "The Congress also resolutely stands for the restoration of the status and rights of the people of J&K. The arbitrary and unconstitutional decisions of the Modi government of August 5, 2019, must be rescinded." Responding to it, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malaviya had said, "P Chidambaram calls for reimposing Article 370! Does India need enemies when it has the Congress party?
Upping the ante on the issue, Modi in Bihar said, "still they have the audacity to come and seek votes in Bihar which sends its sons and daughters to protect the nation. Is it not an insult to the people of Bihar?"
NDA ally JDU had taken different stands on Article 370 in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha when it was brought before Parliament in August 2019. While it had opposed the concerned bill in Rajya Sabha and staged a walkout from the House, it had come out in support of the move the very next day saying that the party was opposing it, since it became law after passage in Rajya Sabha, it should be accepted and all should be with the central government on the issue. Before the revision in a stand of JDU had come, some leaders had then appealed to Nitish Kumar to re-think the stand keeping in mind sentiments of the people of the country.
Modi on Friday said, "People are repulsed by the Opposition’s politics, which includes their problematic stand on Article 370 and Triple Talaq."
On Wednesday Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had made rather contentious remarks asserting that the abrogation of Article 370 has given people of other states a "licence" to own property in Jammu and Kashmir.
"Earlier, a person from this part of Bihar could not even think of owning property in Kashmir. Congress had put such a system in place. But Narendra Modi and Amit Shah changed all that. Article 370 has been scrapped and the people now have a license to purchase and own property in any part of Kashmir," he had said, according to a PTI report. Mufti on Friday minced no words in attacking the BJP on the issue.
Mufti said when the BJP fails on all fronts, it reminds of Kashmir and Article 370 and recalled to it the recent
Due to the sensitivities attached to the issue, Congress and other Opposition parties in Bihar have refrained from responding to the BJP on issues like 370. Rahul Gandhi, who also addressed two election rallies in Bihar on Friday refrained to respond to the 370 attacks of Modi and confined his attack to issues like China, demonetisation, and mess in the economy.