Amid rift in Congress over Article 370, Adhir Chowdhury embarrasses party with Kashmir faux pas in Parliament
New Delhi, Aug 6 (IBNS): In what is seen as a major faux pas in Parliament on behalf of the Congress, Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury raised a question on whether Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter of the country leading to a heated argument with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Addressing the lower house of parliament, Adhir said, "I am doubtful so I want to know. You are saying that Article 370 is an internal matter. You have also bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir. But I want to know whether Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter as the state was being monitored by the United Nations since 1948 and also we did Shimla Agreement and Lahore Declaration. Few days ago, S Jaishankar (External Affairs Minister) told the US that Kashmir is our bilateral matter. Even after all these, can Jammu and Kashmir be an internal matter?"
Hitting back at Adhir, an irate Shah said, "Don't you consider PoK as a part of our country? I will sacrifice my life for it."
Adhir's comment further takes the Congress to an edge as several of its prominent leaders have backed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s step to scrap Article 370 and Article 35A, which were used to grant Jammu and Kashmir a special status.
Mumbai Congress president Milind Deora even tweeted: "Unfortunate that Article 370 is being converted into liberal versus conservative debate. Parties should put aside ideological fixations and debate what's best for India's sovereignty, peace in Jammu and Kashmir, jobs for Kashmiri youth and justice for Kashmiri Pandits" Deora tweeted.
While several other leaders supported the move to abrogate Article 370, Congress whip in Rajya Sabha, Bhubaneswar Kalita, a day ago resigned over his party's stand on the issue. He said Congress is committing suicide by opposing it and going against the sentiments of Indians.
Article 35A of the Indian Constitution allows the Jammu and Kashmir state's legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state and also provides special rights and privileges to those permanent residents.
Article 370 allows Jammu and Kashmir to have its own constitution, flag and right to handle its own laws except on matters that impact national security.
As several opposition parties walked away, the majority mark of the Upper House was brought down while some non-BJP lawmakers also supported the government's move.
Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal, Jagan Reddy's YSR Congress, N Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party and quite surprisingly Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party and Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party supported the government on the bill.
About 125 lawmakers voted for the bill and 61 against it in the 242-member Rajya Sabha.
The bill has been moved in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
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