Article 370: Chidambaram’s Kashmir Remark Insensitive, Says BJP

Chidambaram also attacked regional parties which supported the move in the Parliament.

Former Union Minister P Chidambaram

(Photo: Reuters)

The BJP on Monday, 12 August, termed P Chidambaram's comment as "very irresponsible and provocative", after the Congress leader said that the Union government revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status because it is a Muslim-dominated state and would not have done so if the state had Hindus in majority.

While Law Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad accused the former home minister of making a very irresponsible and provocative statement, BJP leaders Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, also a Union minister, and Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the Congress was giving the issue a communal angle.

What Did Chidambaram Say?

Earlier, on Sunday, 11 August, Chidambaram lambasted the BJP for abrogation of Article 370, saying the saffron party would not have "snatched away" the special status had Jammu and Kashmir been a Hindu-dominated state.

Alleging that BJP revoked the Article with its "muscle power", he said the situation in Jammu and Kashmir was unstable and that international news agencies were covering the unrest, but not Indian media houses.

“...They (BJP) claim Kashmir is stable. Is it? Does it mean stable if Indian media houses don’t cover the unrest in J&K?”

He also took potshots at seven regional parties ruling in seven states, saying they did not cooperate against the BJP's move in the Rajya Sabha out of "fear".

Expressing dissatisfaction over non-cooperation of opposition parties, Chidambaram said, "I know we do not have majority in Lok Sabha, but had the seven parties (AIADMK, YSRCP, TRS, BJD, AAP, TMC, JDU) cooperated, the opposition would have been in majority in RS. This is something disappointing".

“TMC did a walkout, but what's the difference,” he asked.

Around 10,000 people protested in Soura in J&K is a truth, police action took place is a truth and shootings happened during the stir is a truth” Chidambaram said at a public meeting held here to condemn the BJP’s move.

Chidambaram said that in the 70-year history of the nation, there has never been an example of a state being reduced to a Union Territory and it has always been the converse.

"Today, Jammu and Kashmir has been turned into a municipality...There are special provisions for other states under Article 371, why only J and K...This is because of religious fanaticism.

If J&K was a Hindu dominated state, BJP would not have done this. They did it only because the region is dominated by Muslims,” the former union minister alleged.

"BJP is bragging of integrating Kashmir with muscle power," he added.

BJP Hits Back

Defending the decision to revoke Article 370, Naqvi said the government has rectified a very big mistake made decades ago by the Congress.

“What he has said is an attempt to give communal colour to the issue even though the decision is in national interest,” he said.

Shivraj Chouhan, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, said it was the Congress's "narrow mindedness" that it is looking at the issue through a "Hindu-Muslim" prism.

Hitting out at the Congress, he asked if it was not true that over 42,000, mostly Muslims, had died in the Valley during decades of violence.