Notification by President enough for Article 370 scrapping: Swamy

Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday said a notification by Pranab Mukherjee is enough to scrap Article 370, which confers special status on the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Subramanian's statement came as a reaction to the recent statement made by Union Minister Farooq Abdullah's statement that even if Modi becomes Prime Minister for ten times, he will not be able to do away with Article 370.

"I don't know which Constitutions Farooq has been reading. It does not even require a parliamentary vote. The cabinet has to adopt a resolution and send it to the president. The President then has to issue a notification canceling Article 370. It is a very easy step," said Swamy.

He added that Dr. Farooq Abdullah was trying to assure his Kashmiri public.

"The patriots in India, and also a large number of Kashmiri Muslims now want normal Indian citizenship. So, do the poor Kashmiri Pandits who have been suffering because of the one sided application of Article 370. Therefore, I am totally in favour of scrapping Article 370 when the chance comes. It is the sentiment of the BJP party members that this clause must go," he added.

Modi had said at his 'Lalkar' rally in Jammu on Sunday that there should be a thorough debate on the issue of Article 370, which gives special and autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. He also made a reference to India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, saying: "Nehru had said that in the future, the importance of Article 370 will fade out,"

Criticizing the Congress, he said: "The Congress has sown the seeds of a 'separate state but the BJP Government will transform Jammu and Kashmir into one of the super states of the country.