Cong should thank BJP for abrogating Article 370: Jitendra Singh

SRINAGAR: Union Minister of state for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh, on Monday said that the Congress should thank the BJP for revoking Article 370 of the Constitution for its leader and first Prime Minister of the country Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru had way back in the 1960s committed himself to doing away with this “transitional and temporary” constitutional provision.

“Panditji is on record in the Constituent Assembly that Article 370 is a temporary provision and would be revoked. But the Congress could not remove it. In fact, they should thank the BJP for fulfilling something promised by its leader,” he told reporters here on the sideline of an official event.

Mr. Nehru had on December 27, 1963 told the Lok Sabha that the Article 370 had been “eroded” and that Jammu and Kashmir stands “fully integrated” with the rest of the country. Towards the fag end of his time, he had reiterated that the Article 370 was a temporary and transitional provision and its revocation was only a matter of time. Mr. Singh who is also MoS for the Prime Minister’s office said, “What they (Congress) failed to do the BJP did (in August 2019).”

Mr. Singh made this assertion a day before a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court will begin to hear a batch of petitions challenging the Central government's move to revoke the special status of J&K. The Centre has in a fresh affidavit in the Apex Court said that the move has brought not only normalcy, stability and progress to the erstwhile state with shutdowns, school closures and stone pelting being a thing of the past but also a 3-tier Panchayat system has been established in Union Territory, dismantled terror ecosystem and has led to the application of Central laws like right to education in the Union Territory.

Former chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah while reacting to the Centre’s claims said that these are not valid arguments as the case in the SC is about the legality and constitutionality of the August 5, 2019 decision of the BJP government.

He tweeted, “These are definitely political arguments the BJP/Union Govt can make to sell their decision to the voter but they are not legal arguments. The entire case in the SC is about the illegality & unconstitutionality of what was done on 5th Aug 2019, not whether the Govt has a strong enough political case.”

Mr. Singh, while replying to the query whether the Assembly elections in J&K will be held, claimed here that a true democratic setup was established in J&K for the first time by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, after conducting the 3-tier Panchayat elections in the UT. “Grassroots level democracy flourished for the first time in the history of J&K. This was missing for the past 70 years,” he said, adding “Democracy didn’t exist in J&K earlier. Today, democracy is at grassroots level, and this is for the first time in the past 70 years.”

On the incidents of violence in West Bengal, he said that “political hypocrisy” has come to the fore. “Those who used to accuse the Centre of killing people are themselves killing civilians. There is a governance failure and that there is state terrorism. In a democratic step, there is no place for state terrorism,” he said.

Earlier after inaugurating a 5-day integrated communication and outreach programme, an event organised at a school here by the Central Bureau of Communication, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Mr. Singh said that prior to 2014, India was looked down upon as a land of scams and corruption which had a deleterious effect on the people especially the youth. He said, “But with his dynamic and visionary leadership, Prime Minister Modi has taken India out of despondency and the whole world is ready to work under the leadership of India”.  He added that Mr. has been “a transformational figure in turning this pessimism to optimism and making India stand brightly among the comity of nations”.