Rajnath's Article 35A statement will help elevate feelings of J-K people about Centre: Defence Expert

A defence expert on Monday hailed Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's statement on Article 35A and said his remarks would help elevate the feelings of Jammu and Kashmir people about the Centre.

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.

Talking to ANI, defence expert Qamar Agha termed the statement a positive development for the Jammu and Kashmir.

"Article 35 A has become a very sentimental issue in J-K and this statement would help elevate their feelings about the Centre. The people of J-K were very apprehensive that Centre would get away or dilute Article 35. Now they are assured. Rajnath had also said that it is up to the state legislature to decide the matter that who should be given statehood in that area and Centre has nothing to do with it. It was a very positive statement. I am sure people of Jammu and Kashmir must have been relived by his statement," he said.

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.