Art 370 is lifeline of integration of Kashmir with India: CPI

CPI today termed Article 370 as the "lifeline" of integration of Kashmir with India and warned the government against any "hasty" decision on the issue, saying the Constitution should not be meddled with to suit someone's "whims and fancies".

The party's Central Secretariat asked the government "not to take any hasty decision on Article 370, which is the lifeline of integration of Kashmir in the Indian union".

"The Constitution should not be meddled according to the whims and fancies of some people. It is a delicate political issue which should be dealt carefully respecting the obligations of the framers of the Constitution," a CPI statement said.

The statement came a day after Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh stirred a hornet's nest, saying the Narendra Modi government was open to debate on merits and demerits of Article 370 granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir and would make efforts to "convince the unconvinced" by holding contact programmes with every section of the society in the state.

Singh is a first-time MP from Jammu and Kashmir.

The party also welcomed the government's decision to implement the Supreme Court directive to appoint a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on bringing back black money stashed in foreign banks abroad, saying this demand was being raised by the Left for quite some time.

It demanded that the terms of reference should also include the reasons for generation of black money in India, steps to curb it and also the ways to bring back this money from foreign banks and other financial institutions. It sought a time-frame for the SIT to come out with its report and recommendations.