Statehood only after ‘rectifying blunders’ of previous governments: BJP

SRINAGAR: As the demand for restoring statehood to Jammu and Kashmir gains momentum, the BJP on Saturday 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”.

Ravinder Raina

“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,” J&K president of the BJP, Ravinder Raina, told newspaper The Tribune in a telephonic interview.

Raina said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had committed that statehood to J&K would be restored after the normalisation of the situation. “This commitment would be fulfilled at an appropriate time,” he maintained.

Claiming that common masses of J&K were elated over the abrogation of Article 370, Raina said only some dynast politicians were raising the demand of restoring this Article just to hoodwink the gullible masses.

He opined that Article 370 was a tool in the hands of the J&K’s ruling elite to hide their failures and bunglings. “A number of scams have been exposed in J&K during the last one year because anti-corruption law was extended in this part of the country after August 5,” he pointed out.

He argued that the ruling elite had been abusing the so-called “special constitutional provision” for petty personal gains. “Only 50-odd families were extracting benefits from Article 370, but exploiting people on this issue,” Raina said, adding, “Gone are the days when these families can exploit sentiments of people in the name of the so-called special status.”

He argued that various ethnic and marginalised groups of J&K were empowered after the abrogation of Article 370, reported The Tribune.

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