The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday termed as “seditious” a statement by National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah that he hoped, with China’s support, Article 370 will be restored in Jammu & Kashmir.
Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, in an interview to India Today TV on Sunday said China “never accepted” the nullification of Article 370.
“They said till you restore Article 370, we won’t stop because it has now become an open issue,” he said.
“May Allah wish that our people get help from their might and our Articles 370 and 35A get restored,” he added.
Lashing out at Farooq Abdullah for the statement, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said the comments were “saddening as well as worrying”.
“He is a former chief minister and sitting MP and yet in an interview said that Article 370 that has been abrogated in Parliament should be installed with the help of China. A sitting MP is using such words for the country. He thinks that China’s aggression is because Article 370 has been nullified. He categorically states that since Indian Parliament abrogated Article 370, China is disturbed and that is why China’s aggression is justified. He seems to justify the expansionist tendencies of China.”
Terming Farooq Abdullah’s statement as “seditious” he added: “If you have reservations about the democratic process you’re allowed to talk about it but to say that you will join hands with another country to reinstall something is condemnable. This is also seditious.”
Nearly all of Kashmir’s mainstream political leaders, including Farooq Abdullah, were put in months-long detention on August 5, 2019, hours before Parliament nullified Article 370 and split the state into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
National Conference (NC) general secretary Ali Mohamad Sagar said that the party has always sided with India, and said that all conditions of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir must be fulfilled.
“On a political basis, BJP divided Jammu and Kashmir and split into two Union Territories(UTs). Farooq Abdullah spoke in this context. Just focussing on a single word won’t do. Farooq sahab said that till tomorrow they were friends with China. Now today, China is saying that Ladakh is disputed. So instead of putting blame on Farooq Abdullah, they should introspect… They should maintain the secular image of the country and take due care of the aspirations of its only Muslim majority state,” he said.
