Congress says 'BJP on track now' post Rajnath's statement on Article 35A

The Congress party on Monday lauded Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh statement on Article 35A and said the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) is on track now on the issues related to Jammu and Kashmir.

Talking to ANI, Congress leader Sachin Sawant also asked the Home Minister issue a diktat directing all the BJP leaders to refrain from giving any anti-national statements.

"It should be called as better late than never because we have already heard many statements by BJP leaders which were not in the interest of country. Definitely it is expected that government would take very wise decision as far as Kashmir is concerned. So, I think they are on track now. There has been a lot of politics by the BJP on various issues regarding Kashmir. There should be diktat from the home minister to all the BJP leaders to refrain from giving such kind of statements which would be against the interest of the country and Kashmir," Sawant told ANI.

Earlier on Sunday, talking about Article 35A, Rajnath had said that the government will never take any step, which will hurt the sentiments of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing the crowd on his three day visit to the valley Rajnath said, "The Government didn't initiate anything on Article 35A nor went to the Court. I assure that the government would never take step which hurts sentiments of people of Jammu and Kashmir."

Article 35A of the Indian Constitution is an article that empowers the Jammu and Kashmir state's legislature to define "permanent residents" of the state and provide special rights and privileges to those permanent residents.

Article 35A was added to the Constitution by a Presidential Order in 1954 and accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of the Jammu and Kashmir. It also empowers the state's legislature to frame any law without attracting a challenge on grounds of violating the Right to Equality of people from other states or any other right under the Indian Constitution.