Srinagar, May 28: The controversy over Article 370 continued unabated on Wednesday with the RSS hitting back at Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his remarks. Omar made it clear that it cannot be revoked without recalling the Constituent Assembly and that it is “impossible”.
Reacting to Omar’s remarks that either J&K won’t be part of India or Article 370 that grants special status to the state will still exist, senior RSS leader Ram Madhav said the state will always be an integral part of India with or without the provision. Madhav also asked whether the chief minister thought the state was his “parental estate”.
“J&K won’t be part of India? Is Omar thinking it’s his parental estate? 370 or no 370, J&K has been and always will be an integral part of India,” tweeted Madhav.
Observing that any move to abrogate Article 370 will be extremely dangerous, Omar said if the BJP decides to recall the constitutional facility, it would reopen the debate on state’s accession to India. He said the only way to revoke Article 370 is on the back of the body called the Constituent Assembly.
This is the body that ratified the relationship of J&K with India, he said, adding that if you were to recall the Constituent Assembly, you would be reopening the debate on Instrument of Accession. “If the BJP wants to do that and call the Constituent Assembly, let them do that,” he said.
The chief minister said that considering we claim that entire J&K is ours and the BJP’s view that even the PoK is India’s part, the Constituent Assembly will have to have members from there too. “But this is highly impossible. Who is going to recall a Constituent Assembly?” Omar asked.
A fresh controversy over Article 370 erupted on Tuesday following comments by the new Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh seeking debate on it. “If we do not have debate and discussion, how would you be able to tell those who have been unable to understand what they have been deprived of on account of Article 370?” said Singh.
He later clarified that he was “misquoted” on the issue. Reacting to Madhav’s “parental estate” remarks, Omar asserted that he never said J&K has been his parental estate, but he was a citizen of the state and he had the right to speak about his rights. Omar said he doesn’t owe allegiance to the RSS and that no RSS wala can stop him from speaking for his state.
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