State BJP President & MLA Jugal Kishore Sharma today rejected outright the regressive and pisive view of the NC, the Congress, the PDP and the CPI (M) that Article 370 was a bridge and to demolish it would mean de-accession of the state from India. “Article 370 is not just a wall of hatred between Jammu & Kashmir and the rest of the country, but it has played havoc with the rights of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and perpetrated on the state a system of governance which is anti-people, discriminatory, parochial, and even anti-India,” said Jugal Kishore Sharma in a press statement.
Jugal Kishore Sharma said, instead of appreciating the rational suggestion of BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi that there should be a comprehensive debate on the pros and cons of Article 370, the vested interest in Kashmir as represented by the NC, the PDP and the CPI (M) and the so-called Indian National Congress, unleashed a misinformation campaign to mislead the people and suggest that Article 370 was a permanent feature of the Indian constitution. “Article 370 was a temporary provision and even PM Jawaharlal Nehru had said in 1963 in the parliament that Article 370 will become redundant in course of time,” said BJP State President and added that “this communal Article has vitiated the whole atmosphere in Jammu and Kashmir and harmed the general political, civil and economic rights of the people of the state in general and the people of Jammu and Ladakh and religious and ethnic minorities, including Kashmiri Hindus, Gujjars and Bakerwals, Shiite Muslims, refugees from West Pakistan and so on in particular”.
State BJP President once again challenged the NC, the Congress and the PDP to come forward to hold a debate on Article 370 that has created an impression across the globe that Jammu and Kashmir was not an integral part of India to the same extent as other states. Asserting that a debate on this Article has become imperative to educate the public opinion about the damage it has caused to the polity and society during the past more than 64 years, he said the demolition of the wall of hatred created by Article 370 alone could integrate the state into India and empower people to exercise all the rights which are available to their counterparts in the country.