Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday claimed Kashmir has become like a “concentration camp” since the Centre revoked its special status under Article 370 of the Constitution. Chowdhury was referring to the intense security clampdown in the region since Sunday.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said from the Red Fort earlier that he would solve the Kashmir issue by embracing the people of the state and not by the bullet,” he told PTI. “But, going by the developments, Kashmir is like a concentration camp in the manner in which everything there has been shut down.”
The Rajya Sabha on Monday adopted the resolution revoking Article 370 of the Constitution. The Upper House of Parliament also passed a bill to split the state into two Union territories – one, Jammu and Kashmir, which will have a legislature, and the other, Ladakh, without one. The Lok Sabha passed it on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Thursday expressed doubts about the benefits of the Centre’s move. “Only time will tell how many employment opportunities are generated and whether acts of terrorism come down in Jammu and Kashmir after the removal of Article 370...that is the biggest question before us,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Navi Mumbai.
Asked about party colleague Jyotiraditya Scindia’s support to the government’s move, Nath said he will eventually support the party’s resolution on it. The Congress has opposed the government’s decision, and said that political parties will fight the Centre’s move and stand with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Apart from Jyotiraditya Scindia, a number of Congress members voiced their support on the Centre’s decision to remove the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir. Some of them are Karan Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Deepender Hooda, Jaiveer Shergill, Milind Deora, Aditi Singh and Bhubaneswar Kalita.
Congress leader and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel criticised the way the decision has been implemented. “The way it was implemented, had they taken everyone into confidence, it would have been different,” he told ANI. “Now the people for whom it was implemented aren’t aware of it. Asking question is crime now so I don’t want to say anything.”
Earlier in the day, Congress MP and former Home Minister P Chidambaram asked if “muscular nationalism” has resolved any conflict in the world. Chidambaram also referred to Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement President Shah Faesal’s comments on the situation in the Valley as one of “unprecedented horror”.
“Shah Faesal came first in the Civil Services Examination and joined the IAS. He has called the government’s actions on J&K as ‘the biggest betrayal’,” Chidambaram said in a tweet. “If Shah Faesal thinks so, imagine what millions of ordinary people of J&K think,” he added.
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