Breaking his silence on the issue of Article 370, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday criticised the government for "tearing apart" Jammu and Kashmir. He said a nation is built by its people, not plots of land. Calling the BJP government's decision to revoke Article 370 and dividing it in two separate UTs "abuse of power", Gandhi said the decision could have grave implications for the country.
"National integration isn't furthered by unilaterally tearing apart J&K, imprisoning elected representatives and violating our Constitution. This nation is made by its people, not plots of land. This abuse of executive power has grave implications for our national security," Congress leader tweeted on Tuesday.
Both Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi were present during the debate on the J&K Reorganisation Bill in Parliament on Tuesday.
A high drama was witnessed in the Lok Sabha after Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the BJP had violated all rules to convert a state into a union territory, and that Kashmir was not an internal issue of India.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked the Congress party to explain if it was the party's official position. "Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of Union of India. Kashmir ki seema mein PoK bhi aata hai...Jaan de denge iske liye! (PoK also comes in when we talk about Kashmir, we will give life for it)," the Home Minister said.
During the debate on the bill in Parliament, Congress MP Manish Tewari said several demands had been made in the past to covert union territories into states but it had happened for the first time that a state was converted into UT.
"Indian Constitution does not have only Article 370. It also has Article 371 A to I. They provide special rights to Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Andhra, Sikkim, etc. Today when you're scrapping Article 370, what message are you sending to these states?" he asked.
Also read: Article 370 revoked: How Articles 370, 35A killed Jammu & Kashmir's economy
Edited by Manoj Sharma