Jammu: Congress on Monday charged BJP with misleading people of the country by promising abrogation of Article 370, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, saying it was not possible to repeal the Constitutional provision even if BJP gets two-third majority in Parliament.
"Just like Ram Temple, BJP is befooling the people of this country on the issue of Article 370. Article 370 is the binding force between India and Jammu and Kashmir; it is a commitment that was signed between the Maharaja and the Indian government of that time," Congress spokesman Meem Afzal told reporters here today.
He said that the abrogation of Article 370 was impossible and BJP would not be able to do it even if it secures two third majority in Parliament.
BJP spokesman Sambit Patra had yesterday said that the issue of the abrogation of Article 370 continued to be part of the core ideology of BJP and the party would work towards its removal once it gets two third of majority in Parliament.
"They will never get two third majority and even if they do they cannot be able to abrogate it. BJP sacrificed all its ideology and sat in the laps of PDP just to be in the power.
"The party which once accused PDP of being sympathetic towards separatists has now joined hands with the same party to enjoy power," Afzal said.
The former MP also said that Hurriyat Conference should fight elections to prove its relevance in Kashmir.
He said that dialogue in Kashmir can only be held with the elected representatives of the people and Hurriyat Conference does not have a representative character.
"The recent polls in Jammu and Kashmir have proved that more than 95 per cent people in the state follow the democratic process, if Hurriyat wants to hold talks it should first fight elections and prove its representative character," he said.
Accusing the Narendra Modi-led government of being soft on terrorism and cross-border aggression, Afzal said in the past one year there have been more than 746 ceasefire violations which was several times more than the number of such violations during UPA tenure.
"Where has the 56-inch chest gone, every day we see that a Pakistani flag is being hoisted in the Kashmir Valley, separatists are having a field day and terrorist activities have increased, this government has shown a weak-kneed approach towards terrorism," he said.
Afzal accused the Modi-led government of "diluting" the constitutional institutions like CVC, Lok Pal and RTI and said that if more teeth were given to such institutions "much bigger scams" would surface.
"BJP government has diluted these institutions, we pray that there is no corruption but if these institutions get more teeth then much bigger scandals would surface. The Congress gave laws like RTI which have empowered the people to expose corruption," he said.
He said that during the last two years of the UPA government at the Centre "some corruption cases" did surface but the people involved were punished as per the law.
Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for wearing "a ten lakh rupees" suit during the visit of US President Barack Obama to India, Afzal said, "The country gave a tea seller a chance to be the prime minister of the country as they expected him to work, but he is taking pride in wearing a ten lakh worth of suit," he said.
