New Delhi: Within hours of the Supreme Court docket upholding the abrogation of Article 370 on Monday, the opposition events of the INDIA bloc entered a political minefield because the Congress distanced itself from the DMK’s place on Kashmir within the Rajya Sabha below the BJP’s sustained hearth.
In an official assertion, the Congress, the biggest constituent of the INDIA bloc, reiterated the place taken by its working committee on 6 August, 2019 — a day after Article 370 was scrapped — that “Article 370 deserved to be honoured until it was amended strictly in accordance with the Constitution of India”.
Former Union residence minister P. Chidambaram, studying out the assertion at a press convention on the Congress headquarters, mentioned the celebration “respectfully disagrees with the SC judgement on the manner in which Article 370 was abrogated.”
“We are also disappointed that the SC did not decide the question of dismembering the state to two Union Territories. The Congress has always demanded the restoration of full statehood. We welcome the SC verdict in this regard. We believe the election should be held immediately and there is no reason to wait till 30 September 2024,” Chidambaram mentioned.
Barring the J&Okay-based Nationwide Convention (NC) and the Individuals’s Democratic Get together (PDP), which expressed main disappointment with the apex courtroom’s ruling together with the Left events, most different constituents of the INDIA bloc, together with the Samajwadi Get together, reacted cautiously, saying the judgement must be revered.
Talking within the Rajya Sabha, Congress MP Vivek Tankha appeared to take a stand which was extra welcoming of the five-judge verdict of the SC. He mentioned whereas Jammu and Kashmir shouldn’t have been downgraded from a state to a UT, “Jawaharlal Nehru had said in 1963 that Article 370 is a transitory provision, it’s a temporary provision.”
Former Congress MP Milind Deora additionally posted on X that he welcomes the SC verdict which “transcends politics”. The publish Article 370 interval has seen elevated tourism, enhanced infrastructure and improved financial prospects in Kashmir, he mentioned in an announcement.
Nonetheless, even because it largely managed to border a middle-of-the-road response to the decision exterior Parliament, the Opposition discovered itself cornered it’s the Rajya Sabha the place the DMK not solely caught to its stance towards the abrogation of Article 370, but in addition difficult issues by quoting Dravidian icon E.V. Ramasamy Periyar on self-determination.
The precise line, quoted by DMK MP Mohammed Abdulla whereas collaborating within the debate on the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Modification) Invoice and the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Modification) Invoice, was expunged from the information of the Home by Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar.
“Can we quote anything in this House? Can we quote to the extent of it being sedition, challenging our integrity, going against our Constitution, going against the judgement of the Supreme Court?” Dhankhar exclaimed.
Amid uproar, DMK MP Tiruchi Siva, who rose to defend Abdulla, gave extra ammunition to the federal government benches to assault the Opposition.
“When he (Abdulla) spoke about abrogation of Article 370, you said it was against the Supreme Court order. If tomorrow, INDIA alliance comes to power and Article 370 is restored. After the Chinese aggression in 1963, we (DMK) gave up our then demand for separate Dravida Nadu. Later, we were very firm that the DMK is for the unity and integrity of this nation. We stood with the policy of state autonomy. Don’t try to give the DMK a separate colour. What is wrong in quoting Periyar?” Siva mentioned.
Caught off-guard, the Congress sought to defend its coalition accomplice, with Chief of the Opposition within the Higher Home Mallikarjun Kharge, and Congress common secretary (organisation) Okay.Okay. Venugopal, arguing that Abdulla’s remarks had been coated below the precept of free speech.
“He quoted based on Periyar’s written speeches. You may agree or disagree, we may agree or disagree. You can expunge if a member’s remarks is against the business rules, constitution. He only quoted Periyar. Stopping him from speaking is undemocratic,” Kharge mentioned
Venugopal mentioned members have the correct to criticise Supreme Court docket judgement as nicely.
However, the treasury benches latched on to Abdulla and Siva’s remarks and the diffidence of the Congress to place the Opposition on the backfoot.
Reacting to Siva’s assertion, Union Residence Minister Amit Shah, who was current to answer the controversy on the Payments that are already cleared by the Lok Sabha, questioned: “Is he spelling the agenda of the DMK that Article 370 will be brought back or that of the INDIA alliance?”
Shah additionally demanded to know if the Congress agrees with Abdulla quoting Periyar on self-determination.
Dhankhar mentioned he was anticipating Kharge to take a “serious view” of Abdulla’s comment which outraged “the spirit and essence of the Constitution.”
“This was an attack on the soul of Bharat Mata,” Dhankhar mentioned.
Pushed to the wall, the Congress lastly distanced itself from the phrases spoken by DMK’s Abdulla. “I want to say it clearly, the quote which has been used, we don’t support that quote,” Congress MP, and its communication in-charge, Jairam Ramesh introduced on the ground of the Home.
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Wait-and-watch by different events, too
In the meantime, different INDIA alliance companions such because the TMC, which had spoken in numerous voices after the abrogation in 2019, and the RJD additionally adopted a guarded method.
On Monday, TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Nadimul Haque, whereas talking on the Kashmir Payments, didn’t particularly cope with the SC verdict, however tacitly criticised the Centre’s place by declaring how Kashmir residents proceed to undergo as a result of lack of improvement in sectors reminiscent of energy.
RJD MP Manoj Jha mentioned the Kashmir Valley additionally wants “psychological healing.” He added that silence shouldn’t be construed as peace, which, he mentioned, additionally requires “justice”. The socialist events proceed to level out that their ideological fountainhead Ram Manohar Lohia was a votary of Article 370.
The NC and PDP, which claimed that its leaders had been put below home arrest forward of the SC verdict, appealed to the folks of Jammu and Kashmir to “not lose hope” and added that it was not the top of the highway.
“This is not our loss. This is the defeat of the idea of India. This is the defeat of the idea under which the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir rejected Pakistan and joined hands with Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists of Gandhi’s India,” PDP president Mehbooba Mufti mentioned in a video message.
In a separate video message, wherein he additionally sought to ascertain that he was below home arrest, NC vice-president Omar Abdullah mentioned whereas he was dismayed by the SC verdict, the political combat will proceed.
“The BJP has been fighting to get Article 370 revoked since 1950. Where they met with failures in the court, they waged their fight politically. We will also continue to do that. Sometime in the future, we will be able to earn back what we lost in 2019,” he mentioned.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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