Article 35A and 370 must not be removed: Farooq Abdullah

Senior National Conference (NC) MP Farooq Abdullah, on Monday said Article 35A and 370 were the "foundation" for Kashmir and hence should not be removed.

"Article 35A and Article 370 should not be removed. It forms our foundation. There is no need to remove it. We are Hindustani but they (Article 35A & Article 370) are important for us," Abdullah told reporters here.

Abdullah said he had sought an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold talks over these and other topics such as the deployment of additional troops in the Kashmir valley.

"On one hand you say peace has been restored in the valley, tourists are coming to the valley but on the other hand, they (centre) sent 1 lakh additional forces to the state, then why was it needed? We have demanded a meeting with Prime Minister as we want to meet him," Abdullah said.

He added that he had long been a fighter for India's cause and said there was no BJP or Congress when he was fighting alone in 1996.

"In 1996, when I was alone fighting on India's side nobody was there, neither BJP nor Congress. I stood alone with the tricolour in Kashmir," Abdullah said.

Talking about the elections in the state he said, "In this country, elections will be held every time in every state, the voting percentage doesn't matter. It is the right of every person to cast his vote. The same goes for Kashmir.