With the Narendra Modi-led Government moving on with the abrogation of Article 370, that grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday warned of “grave implications”.
In a tweet, Gandhi said that national integration is not furthered by unilaterally tearing apart J-K, imprisoning elected representatives and violating the Constitution.
“This nation is made by its people, not plots of land,” he tweeted.
He further said that such “abuse of executive power will have grave implications for the country’s national security”.
National integration isn’t furthered by unilaterally tearing apart J&K, imprisoning elected representatives and violating our Constitution. This nation is made by its people, not plots of land.
This abuse of executive power has grave implications for our national security.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 6, 2019
Jammu and Kashmir is under a dramatic security clampdown as restrictions have been imposed in the Valley. Mobile internet services have been snapped.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti and Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference chairman Sajad Lone are under house arrest since early Monday morning.
J-K National Conference Chairman Farooq Abdullah was absent from the Parliament during the high-profile debate adding to speculations that he might also be under house arrest.
All educational institutions have been closed till further orders and all Kashmir University exams have been postponed without specifying the next date.
Soon after the massive build-up in the state, the Centre on Monday scrapped Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. President Ram Nath Kovind has signed the notification to scrap the Article.
Under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019, the Centre has planned to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories – one, Jammu and Kashmir with an Assembly and the other, Ladakh without one.
J-K politicians Omar and Mehbooba have warned of “catastrophic consequences”. Congress said that BJP had “murdered the democracy and the Constitution”.
However, the BJP and a few others parties including the AAP hailed the decision as “correcting a historic blunder”.
Meanwhile, Congress has called a CWC meet to discuss the repealing of Article 370 after its leaders spoke in different voices causing embarrassment to the party leadership. Sonia Gandhi is set to chair the meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body.
Two leaders of the party had supported the Centre’s move. The Congress whip in Rajya Sabha, Bhubaneswar Kalita, resigned over his party’s stand saying his party was committing suicide by opposing the abrogation of Article 370. Senior leader Janardhan Dwivedi said the Government step was “correcting a mistake of history”.
Repealing Article 370 and Article 35A has long been one of the core BJP promises and the demand for its abrogation had risen after the Pulwama terror attack.
Article 370 grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir and limits Parliament’s power to make laws concerning the state. It was incorporated in India’s Constitution in October 1949. It also gives power to the state legislature to define Jammu and Kashmir’s residents and their privileges.