Priyanka, Rahul slam European MPs' Kashmir visit

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday took potshots at the Modi government for taking European Parliamentarians on a tour of Jammu and Kashmir.

“This nationalism is unique. You allow European Parliamentarians to tour and intervene in Kashmir, but send back Indian leaders from the airport itself,” Priyanka tweeted.

On Monday, the Congress had termed as an insult to Indian Parliamentary democracy the government's move to facilitate the visit of a group of Members of the European Parliament to Kashmir.

“MPs from Europe are welcome to go on a guided tour of Jammu & Kashmir while Indian MPs are banned & denied entry. There is something very wrong with that,” former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Monday.

Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had attacked the Congress for criticising its decision to strip J&K of its special status under Article 370, accusing the Opposition of toeing the line of Pakistan. Modi and Shah had insisted that Kashmir was India’s internal matter.

Congress and other Opposition leaders recalled how senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sitaram Yechury and Rahul Gandhi were sent back from the Srinagar airport, denying them permission to enter the Kashmir Valley.

Azad and Yechury sought Supreme Court intervention to visit Kashmir.