J-K bifurcation attack on Constitution, democratic rights: CPM's Brinda Karat

Senior Communist Party (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat on Thursday said Jammu and Kashmir's bifurcation was an "attack" on the Constitution and democratic rights of the people.

Speaking to ANI here, the CPM leader said that dividing Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories amounts to depriving the people of the erstwhile state of their basic rights.

"Today symbolises the attack on the Constitution of India, the attack on the basic democratic right of state governments. The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been deprived of the basic Constitutional right. They have been stripped of the right of statehood," she said.

Karat said that there was nothing to celebrate in the implementation of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which has divided the region into two Union Territories.

She said that the government chose Vallabhbhai Patel's birth anniversary to enforce the Act, calling it an attempt to make history. "This is Amit Shah's formula to manufacture history," Karat added.

The CPM leader said that Vallabhbhai Patel was a supporter of Article 370 and even drafted the law.

With the Reorganisation Act coming to force, Jammu and Kashmir was officially bifurcated into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh -- on Thursday.