LDF calls for protest tomorrow against the Centre\'s decision

Thiruvananthapuram: The LDF state committee on Monday decided to organise state wide protest meetings on August 7 against the centre's decision to scrap article 370 and 35 (A) and bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir .

LDF convenor A. Vijayaraghavan said the Centre’s decision amounted to murder of democracy and the Constitution. It was a challenge not only to the people of Kashmir but to the entire country.

The LDF has given a call to organise protest meetings,  rallies and conventions at area level across 14 districts.

The manner in which the Bills had been rushed through without giving time for discussions clearly raises serious doubts about the government’s intentions.

The LDF said all top opposition leaders in Kashmir have been placed under house arrest including CPM MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami to scuttle democratic voices.

The ruling front called upon all democratic minded people of the state to strongly oppose the draconian Bill. It said the Centre could use such measures against any state and it was a grave threat to federal structure of the country.

Meanwhile DYFI  activists took out rallies and protest march against the Bill on Kashmir.  A march was taken to the secretariat in protest. The DYFI leaders said the Centre’s decision was a warning to all states.

Cong calls it murder of statute; BJP jubilant

The KPCC leadership has come down heavily against the abolish the special autonomous status given to Jammu and Kashmir while the BJP expressed happiness on the Modi government’s decision.

KPCC president Mullapally Ramachandran said that August 5, 2019 will forever be known as the black day for India as “the BJP government killed its democracy and plurality”. “So far, Jammu and Kashmir was close with India due to their autonomous status which has since been lost,” he said.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala opined that the division of Jammu and Kashmir is the agenda of the Sangh Parivar. “The BJP government has paved the way for a dangerous trend in the country. Both Mr Modi and Mr Amit Shah have in fact divided the people of the country,” he said.

AICC general secretary Oommen Chandy said it will not be a surprise if the Modi Government replicates this system elsewhere in the country. Congress has decided to hold protest meetings across the country", said Chandy.

BJP state president P. S. Sreedharan Pillai opined that when Amit Shah presented the bill in the Rajya Sabha, he corrected a historical mistake and realised the slogan of ‘one India, one nation.

BJP State general secretary K. Surendran said in a Facebook post that Mr Modi and Mr Shah are only correcting the mistake committed by Jawaharlal Nehru. “For the first one week, the urban naxals, pseudo secular leftists, anti-national elements in the Congress and Mallu journos and their North Indian counterparts will make hue and cry over the Kashmir issue. The people of Kashmir will not have any issue,” he said.