Srinagar: Hitting back at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for advocating repeal of special status of Jammu and Kashmir, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said on Saturday that the relationship between the Union and the state would be over if Article 370 of the Constitution is revoked. “Jaitley must understand this. It is not an easy thing to say. If you scrap (Article) 370, your relation with J-K will be over,” Mehbooba told party workers at her residence here.
Jaitley had on Thursday advocated repeal of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and said Article 35A, which restricts non-permanent residents to buy property in Jammu and Kashmir, is “constitutionally vulnerable” and also hampering economic development of the state.
Mehbooba said Article 370 was a bridge between the Union and the state and if the special provision of the Constitution was revoked, then New Delhi would have to “renegotiate” its relationship with Jammu and Kashmir. The former chief minister has said in case Article 370 is revoked, Jammu and Kashmir will have to rethink whether it wants to stay with India. “Because if you have given us a special position in the Constitution of India and you break that position, then we will have to rethink whether we would even want to stay with you without conditions,” she said.
Meanwhile, National Conference (NC) president and former Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) chief minister Farooq Abdullah said PM Modi had made many promises to the people ahead of the 2014 elections, but those promises were not kept. “Forty CRPF personnel were martyred (in Pulwama attack). I have doubts about that as well and I am telling you the truth,” he said. The NC president said Modi took credit of the successful test-firing of an anti-satellite missile which was actually prepared during former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s tenure.
“Do you know who had prepared this missile which destroyed a satellite? It was Manmohan Singh. But he did not declare it. Now, when there is an election, just to show that ‘Hanuman ji tashreef laye hain’ (Hanuman has come), he (Modi) pressed the button,” he said. “And one wrong button was also pressed in which that helicopter was crashed and our six Air Force personnel along with a civilian were killed,” he added, referring to the crash of a Mi 17 helicopter in Budgam district on February 27.
Sacked BSF jawan to contest Lok Sabha polls against Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Chandigarh: The BSF constable who was dismissed in 2017 after he posted a video online complaining about the food served to the troops has said he would take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Varanasi constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
“I will contest against PM Modi from Varanasi constituency as an independent candidate,” Tej Bahadur Yadav said in Rewari, Haryana on Friday.
Yadav said he wanted to contest the polls to eliminate corruption in the forces. “I had raised the issue of corruption but I was sacked. My first objective will be to strengthen and eliminate corruption in the forces,” he said. Yadav had uploaded a video on social media in 2017, complaining that poor quality food was being served to the troops in icy, mountainous region along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. He was later dismissed on the charge of indiscipline.
