Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad today said that the ‘wrong decision’ of scrapping Article 370 which made Jammu and Kashmir an integral part of India without any riders attached be reversed.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress: I demand from the govt that the wrong decision (#Article370Scrapped) taken by them, which has also been proved wrong as nobody in the state is happy, such a decision should be reversed. Political leaders should be released & normalcy must be restored. pic.twitter.com/GD2Cvio5V9
— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2019
He also added that nobody in the state is happy with the decision and hence it should be reversed. Ghulam Nabi Azad has been one of the most prominent leaders in Congress to be very vocally critical of abrogation of Article 370. Prior to the abrogation, he had not only exonerated the jihadis but even peddled the “Governor Jagmohan did it” theory on the Kashmiri Pandit Exodus in the 1990s. Earlier, Azad had called the abrogation of Article 370 a “murderous decision”.
He had also insinuated that the Kashmiris are a tradeable commodity as he stated that locals in Shopian who were seen after the abrogation of Article 370 dining out with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval were paid for the charade.
Congress is facing a divide within in its own ranks as there are two distinct factions over the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. While one has manifestly protested against the government’s decision regarding the state, the other too has come out and supported the central government for the true integration of the state with the union and the annulment of the partition relic. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora, Deepender Hooda, Janardhan Dwivedi have welcomed the government’s decision. Congress’ chief whip Bhubaneswar Kalita resigned from Rajya Sabha because he was upset over Congress’ stand to oppose Centre’s move to dilute Article 370. Senior Congress leader Dr Karan Singh, who is also the son of Maharaja Hari Singh who had signed the Instrument of Accession agreeing to accede the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir to the Dominion of India.
