| Congress' opposition intriguing | | UTs of J&K, Ladakh | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 12: Congress leaders, including Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and former J&K CM Ghulam Nabi Azad, have been denouncing the Narendra Modi Government's decision to scrap "Temporary" Article 370 and "Illegal" Article 35A and bifurcation of the state into Union Territories (UTs) of J&K and Ladakh. The opposition of the Congress to the Government's decision to create UTs out of the state appears intriguing.
The Congress has been saying that "it is criticizing the government not for bringing in Article 370, but for the manner in which it has been brought in". Rahul and Sonia Gandhi then intervened and said that "the resolution would reflect the party's unhappiness over the process followed by the BJP rather than its decision to remove the special status allowed to Kashmir by Article 370."
Since the Congress is concerned about democratic processes now, it's time to see its own history. And let's not go back to the usual Emergency imposed in 1975, Indira Gandhi's being dictatorial history. But let's just see what happened 5 years ago, when Sonia and Rahul were very much in charge.
Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act was passed in 2014 by Parliament to bifurcate AP into Andhra & Telangana. The Congress blames Modi Government for not getting assembly approval for bifurcation of J&K.
Significantly, their own Congress government in AP rejected the bill, asking the centre not to split the state.
The Congress says that the Narendra Modi government ignored discussion in Parliament. It's just amusing. When the Congress brought the bill in Lok Sabha, its own cabinet minister Chiranjeevi, brought the bill and said that "he is opposed to it". He opposed his own cabinet's bill in Lok Sabha.
The Congress also says that "former J&K CMs Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah were not allowed to speak and were arrested". It's strange. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, GN Azad, P Chidambaram, to name only a few, have, it seems, forgotten what the Congress CM of AP had done. The Congress CM of AP, Kiran Kumar Reddy, was on record opposing bifurcation of his state.
The Congress leaders have been, in addition, accusing the Narendra Modi Government of ignoring the opposition and not giving time for debate on the issues. The Congress' accusation is ill-conceived and its approach politically motivated. It has forgotten what the Congress MPs from AP did in the Lok Sabha. The Congress MPs from AP had used pepper spray on their own colleagues in the Lok Sabha. It happened for the first time in the Parliament. The Speaker and other MPs had to be carried out as they got sick. |
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