Abrogation of Article 35A: Mainstream, separatist on same page, says Soz
Senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz on Tuesday said that the opposition parties in Jammu and Kashmir have taken a right decision to show a united face to fight any effort to abrogate the Article 35-A. He said that the mainstream parties in the State and the Hurriyat Conference are on the same page on this issue
“The J&K Opposition Parties, led by Dr Farooq Abdullah have taken the correct stand on Article 35-A, which is being challenged by the RSS before the Supreme Court of India. It means that the mainstream parties in J&K State and the Hurriyat Conference are on the same page, on this issue,” said Soz, in a statement, issued here today.
In a way, he said, the RSS has lent a helping hand to the political parties in J&K State to forge unity on a very vital question involving the future of Kashmir.
“There is another implication yielded by the RSS’s decision to move the Supreme Court on this question. The J&K chapter of the BJP is visibly facing an awkward situation of isolation on this issue,” he said.
In its narrow approach to Kashmir politics, the RSS has created a very difficult problem directly for PM Modi, who could now ask the RSS to withdraw the case from the Supreme Court, before it is too late, he said.
“PM Modi could take notice particularly of one Constitutional situation involved in the whole issue. A well known scholar of the Constitution of India, Dugadas Basu, explaining the effect of Article-35A says, ‘A most prominent feature of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, as distinguished from the rest of India, is the provision for special treatment of the ‘permanent residents’ of Jammu and Kashmir.’
That way, this Article is directly connected with the Article-370 of the Constitution of India, said Soz.
“The trick that RSS wants to play by asking the Supreme Court of India to revoke Article-35 A, has the potential of creating a commotion in the country, especially, in the Jammu and Kashmir State,” he said.
KV Correspondent
