We're opposing our own patriarch: Jitendra Singh on Art 370 in JNU

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday said that we are opposing our own patriarch as former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had himself said that Article 370 is going to be a temporary provision.

"I am confused. The greatest protagonist of Article 370 was none other than Pt. Nehru and he himself said on record that this is going to be a temporary provision. To whom are we opposing? We are opposing our own patriarch, our own ideologue, as you accept him," Singh said while addressing an event in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here.

A scuffle broke out between two groups of students during the seminar on Article 370 in JNU.

Singh was speaking at the seminar, where the incident took place.

He said that those who were protesting against the seminar on Article 370 in the JNU are, in fact, filled with enthusiasm and curiosity for expressing their views on the same.

"This means they have enthusiasm and curiosity to express themselves about Article 370, maybe in a different mode in which they find convenient. JNU is the seat of learning. It is all about the values of expression. I am glad that they have so much enthusiasm to express themselves on Article 370," he said.

The Central government had on August 5 scrapped the provision of Article 370, which took away the special rights enjoyed by the people of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The UTs will come into being on October 31.