Farooq Abdullah calls for strengthening of Article 370

Abdullah said their demand for revocation of Article 370 will not be fulfilled

Article 370 of the Constitution guarantees special status to Jammu and Kashmir and "cannot be revoked by BJP leader Narendra Modi or anyone else", Union minister Farooq Abdullah said here today.

"Nobody, whether (Narendra) Modi or anybody else, can ever revoke Article 370. The article is there and will remain there forever," he said, and called for its strengthening.

Abdullah said the BJP has been carrying out propaganda about building the Ram Temple but have not done so far and their demand for revocation of Article 370 will not be fulfilled.

"BJP has been saying they will build a temple but so far they have not built it. Now they are talking about revocation of Article 370 but they would not be able to do it. It is unfortunate," he said.

He said it was "unfortunate" that BJP was trying to mislead the people.

"I want to tell Modi that if he wants to be Prime Minister of the country, he needs to keep India together instead of disintegrating it. He needs to think over it," he said.

Abdullah dismissed suggestion that Modi's speech at Jammu on December 1, in which he cited example of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his sister Sarah Pilot for highlighting discriminatory residency laws of the state, was an attack on his family.

"No attack on Abdullah family. We are alive today and will continue," he said.