Srinagar: As political parties from Kashmir continue to demand the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has made it clear that a decision in this regard would be taken only “after rectifying the historic blunders committed by successive state governments by abusing Article 370 and 35-A.”
“After the abrogation of both Articles, our main focus is to establish a system with accountability and transparency as successive regimes in J&K have brazenly abused these Articles to bulldoze democratic institutions and deprive marginalised sections of their constitutional rights,” a Chandigarh based newspaper The Tribune quoted BJP’s J&K Party President, Ravinder Raina, as having said.
According to the report, Raina said that commitment of restoring the statehood in J&K, would be fulfilled at an appropriate time, as Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and country’s Home Minister Amit Shah had committed that statehood to J&K would be restored after the “normalisation of the situation”.
Raina added that common masses of J&K were “elated” over the abrogation of Article 370, and only some “dynast politicians” were raising the demand of restoring this Article just to hoodwink the gullible masses.
The report added that special status of the erstwhile state was a tool in the hands of J&K’s ruling elite to hide their failures and bungling. The BJP President, according to the report, said many scams have been exposed in J&K during the past one year as anti-corruption law was extended in this part of the country after August 5.
He argued that the ruling elite had been abusing the “so-called special constitutional provision” for petty personal gains.
Quoting Raina, the report read, “only 50-odd families were extracting benefits from Article 370, but exploiting people on this issue,” adding, “gone are the days when these families can exploit sentiments of people in the name of the so-called special status.”
Raina added that various ethnic and marginalised groups of J&K were empowered after the abrogation of Article 370.
Earlier this week, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference (JKNC) leader Omar Abdullah said that he will not contest assembly elections till the time J&K remains a Union Territory.
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