BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday said that his party would remove Article 370 from Kashmir “after forming the next government” in New Delhi.
He also hit out at the opposition leaders for being “unhappy” with air strikes on ‘terror camps’.
Criticising West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for questioning the Balakot air strikes in a bid to “appease” the minority vote bank, Shah asked her to come clean on whether she, too, wants a separate PM for Kashmir, just like her ally and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah.
“Mamata Banerjee and opposition leaders are unhappy with the air strikes. They are questioning it just to appease their minority vote bank. But, I want to say it loud and clear that we won’t allow such forces to win.
“We would remove Article 370 from Kashmir after forming the next BJP government at the Centre,” he said, while campaigning for Darjeeling Lok Sabha candidate Raju Singh Bisht.
In their manifesto too, BJP said that they are committed to abrogate Article 370 and 35-A of the Indian Constitution which gives special rights to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
On the contrary, Congress in their manifesto, said that ‘no constitutional change will be allowed in the special status of JK’. The manifesto also promised to review the dreaded Armed Forces Special Powers Act and reduce Army footprints in J&K.
The Congress also said that they will appoint three new interlocutors if it was voted to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
After their release, Jaitely had said that important points related to Jammu and Kashmir in the Congress manifesto appeared to be drafted by the ‘Tukde Tukde’ gang.
