Article 370: Apology not acceptable, Centre alienating Kashmiris, says Omar Abdullah
New Delhi: The controversy over Article 370 continued unabated on Wednesday with RSS hitting back at Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his remarks but he made it clear that it cannot be revoked without recalling the Constituent Assembly that is "impossible".
Reacting to Omar's remarks that either J and 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 b part of India? Is Omar thinking it's his parental estate? 370 or no 370 J&K has been n will always be an integral part of India," Madhav said on Twitter.
Stepping up attack on Singh, Abdullah said the damage has already been done. “He (Dr.Jitendra Singh) had already done the damage before he withdrew his statement. If they have spoken to stake holders I would like to know who? I and my party are stake holders, nobody spoke to us.”
“You can't repeal Article 370 until the constituent assembly is not constituted all over again,” added Abdullah.
Observing that any move to abrogate Article 370 will be extremely dangerous, Omar said if 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 constituent assembly. This is the body that ratified the relationship of J and K with India, he said adding, 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 that we claim that entire J and K is ours and the BJP has always been saying that even the Pakistani side of Kashmir 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 yesterday 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"? Singh had said.
He, however, later clarified that he was "misquoted" on the issue.
Reacting to Madhav's "parental estate" remarks, Omar asserted that he never said J and K has been his parental estate but he was 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.
J&K won't b part of India? Is Omar thinking its his parental estate? 370 or no 370 J&K has been n will always b an integral part of India.
— Ram Madhav (@rammadhavrss) May 28, 2014Art 370 is the ONLY constitutional link between J&K & rest of India. Talk of revocation of not just ill informed it's irresponsible. 3/3
— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) May 27, 2014Mark my words & save this tweet - long after Modi Govt is a distant memory either J&K won't be part of India or Art 370 will still exist 2/n
— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) May 27, 2014So the new MOS PMO says process/discussions to revoke Art 370 have started. Wow, that was a quick beginning. Not sure who is talking 1/n
— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) May 27, 2014