Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday slammed National Conference leader Omar Abdullah for suggesting that his party will appoint a separate prime minister and president for J&K.
Demanding an answer from the Congress party, the Prime Minister said that the Congress’s ally wants to turn the clock back to 1953 when there was a separate prime minister for the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
“A major ally of the Congress, mahagathbandhan’s powerful member — the National Conference has said that there should a separate prime minister in Kashmir. You tell me, do you agree with this demand of the Congress’s ally?” the PM said.
The Prime Minister further added that the Congress party is liable for an answer as to how its ally could muster enough courage to raise such a request.
The Prime Minister was responding to an earlier remark by the National Conference leader during an election rally in J&K’s Bandipora where he said that Kashmir became a part of the Union of India on the grounds that it would have its own identity, its own constitution. “We even appointed our own president and prime minister. God willing, we will restore that as well,” Abdullah said.
Abdullah’s remark came close on the heel of PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti’s statement on Sunday when she had warned that the relationship between the state and the union will be over if Article 370 of the Constitution is revoked.
Hitting back at finance minister Arun Jaitley for advocating repeal of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti said “Jaitley must understand this. It is not an easy thing to say. If you scrap (Article) 370, your relation with J-K will be over.”
Mehbooba said Article 370 was a bridge between the Union and the state and if the special provision of the Constitution was revoked, then New Delhi would have to “renegotiate” its relationship with Jammu and Kashmir.(TOI)
