Jammu, Aug 11: Blaming Article 370 of the Constitution for creation of a “separatist emotion”, the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP said today that the time has come for the people of the state to say goodbye to it and also Article 35 A.
Both these articles, instead of being beneficial to the people of the state, have done a great damage and hamper progress and development, claimed J&K BJP spokesperson Prof Virender Gupta.
“The time has come when the people of Jammu and Kashmir should say goodbye to Article 370 and ask the Government of India to revoke Article 35 A,” he said.
“The prevailing situation in the Valley shows that Article 370 has created a separatist psyche and acts as a breeding ground for separatist emotion”, Gupta said.
The Article is responsible for keeping the settled issue of Jammu and Kashmir alive, motivated and encourages the separatists and external forces to interfere in the internal matters of India and challenge the integrity of the country, he added.
The BJP spokesperson said that in spite of large scale funding from the Government of India, Jammu and Kashmir has not been able to develop its own sustainable economy and has remained underdeveloped and backward in many fields.
He called upon the people of Jammu and Kashmir to also look into the utility of Article 35A claiming it was “most discriminatory” and differentiated between men and women with regard to their rights as citizen of the state.
The BJP is a part of the ruling alliance in J&K where it has partnered the PDP.