Rahul should clear Congress’ stand on Article 370: BJP

PTI, Aug 21, 2024, 8:56 PM IST

New Delhi: Taking aim at Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP on Wednesday asked the Congress leader to clear his party’s stand on the Article 370 and Article 35A.

BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh, who is his party’s organisational in-charge for the Union Territory, said Gandhi’s visit will introduce him to the “peace and development” ushered in the region by the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He alleged that three families, a reference to the Congress, the National Conference and the PDP, over the last several decades stoked embers of separatism and terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir with their policies before the BJP government at the Centre turned things around since 2014.

Kashmir is now identified with tourism and not terrorism, Chugh said, adding that brisk polling was witnessed in the recent Lok Sabha elections in the erstwhile state.

The government had in August 2019 abrogated Article 35A and Article 370, which gave special rights to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated it into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The NC and the PDP, both constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc of which the Congress is the largest member, have called for restoring the two Articles. The Congress has, however, mostly stuck to the demand of restoration of the region’s statehood but has not taken a categorical stand on the nullification of its special rights.