SRINAGAR National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah Friday said Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s argument justifying the use of Article 356 of the Constitution to extend President’s Rule in Jammu and Kashmir is “unacceptable”.
His remarks came after Shah moved a statutory resolution in the Lok Sabha to extend President’s Rule in the state for another six months with effect from July 3.
Later, replying to a debate in the House over the resolution, the minister hit out at the Congress, saying so far Article 356 (President’s Rule) has been imposed 132 times of which the opposition party used it 93 times to dismiss state governments.
“So the Home Minister’s argument is that because the Congress has used Article 356 more times than anyone else the Modi government is justified in denying the people of J&K an elected government. That’s an unacceptable argument,” Abdullah wrote on Twitter.
Jammu and Kashmir does not have an elected dispensation since the PDP-BJP coalition government fell apart in June 2018.
Early this month, the Election Commission said it will announce the schedule of assembly polls in the state after the Amarnath Yatra concludes. The pilgrimage, which will begin on July 1, will conclude on August 15.
Successive Govts demolished JK autonomy: Masoodi
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Member of Parliament from Anantnag Hasnain Masoodi on Friday said that the state of J&K has traditionally been meted out with injustice.
From 1951, brick by brick, autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir was demolished by the successive Union governments, Masoodi said while speaking in the parliament during the debate on the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment Bill) 2019.
Hasnain Masoodi as per a statement said the people of Jammu and Kashmir despite throwing their fate with a secular India have been denied fruits of democracy.
He also urged the government to conduct assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir without any delay.
He said the special status that was assured to the state after Maharaja had signed conditional accession with the Union of India was continuously infringed upon. It started with the unconstitutional, illegal arrest of Sheikh Sahib, and the unrelenting and unprincipled infringement of the rights of the state which it had acquired through the 1952 Delhi agreement, he said.
Masoodi said the state has traditionally been a victim of prejudice right from 1947. The special status to the state was given to it willing by the constituent assembly of the India. The special status or the residual autonomy of the state was given to it by the very constitution of India. The Subsequent Agreement of 1952 also attested to the special status of the state.
Our accession with the union is conditional, and the conditions were put in by the Maharaja himself, he said, However the unconstitutional arrest of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, unconstitutional dismissal of his government, abrogation of the states autonomy has strained our bond with the union and added to the disaffection in the masses.
Art 370 of the constitution is a solemn sacrosanct pledge of the constituent assembly of India to the state of J&K. The need of the hour is to remove anomalies that have crept between the center and the state. The situation calls for a popular government in the state and a rejuvenated dialogue with all the stake holders.
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