Omar's comments on BJP's Article 370 stance improper: Advani

Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani Friday advised Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah not to use words like "cheating" and "deceiving" for his party's stance over the constitution's Article 370, terming it "offensive" and "improper".

He also contended that almost the entire Congress was also against the provision - granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir - when it was sought to be incorporated in the constitution. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been long seeking its abrogation.

Advani's remarks came after Abdullah, at a rally in his state, sought to tell the BJP that it is not possible to withdraw Article 370 and "any attempt by anyone will be over our dead bodies".

In the latest posting on his blog, Advani said BJP's predecessor Jana Sangh was not even born when Article 370 was sought to be approved in the Constituent Assembly and if there was any provision in the draft constitution which had almost the entire Congress up in arms against it, it was this provision.

He cited from a biography of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to state how the the then home minister was also against Article 370 and how the provision came about in the constitution.

"Omar Abdullah, chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, has every right to disagree with the BJP on matters relating to J&K. But I would advise him never to use offensive language and words like 'cheating' and 'deceiving' in that context," Advani said.

He said it was highly improper for anyone to use offensive words like "cheating" in the context of BJP's stand on Jammu and Kashmir.

"It is an issue on which we have not only been unequivocal, forthright and consistent from the time Jana Sangh was born in 1951 till today, but it is an issue for which the party's founder - president laid down his own life, and for which tens of thousands of party activists have courted arrest and suffered in many other ways," he said.