Article 35-A is an 'unconstitutional provision' of law: BJP

Hitting out at the opposition for its stand on Article 35-A and accusing former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah of "misleading" the people on the issue, BJP today said "Article 35-A is an unconstitutional provision of law".
State BJP spokesperson Arun Kumar Gupta said that "it is in operation without being passed in Parliament".
"It is a great paradox that some article is being discussed in public domain without an understanding of its legal position," he claimed.
"Article 35-A is an unconstitutional provision of law and finds no place in Indian Constitution," he said while talking to reporters here.

BJP believes that Article 35-A has done a great harm to all the three regions of J&K, he said.
"This provision has done a greatharm by not allowing any body from the other parts of India to come and settle here," he said.

This resulted in "total isolation" and no growth of institutions required to generate employment, revenue, resources and for the overall economy of the state," he said.
He hit out at the opposition parties and particularly Farooq Abdullah, for raking up the issue to "mislead" the people of J&K.
"BJP cannot influence court and NGOs which are in legal dispensation. We would suggest NC and other parties including Congress file applications in Supreme court, argue there, rather than misleading people of J & K for their own political gains," he said.

"Any discussion or statement on this amounts to contempt of the highest court of the country where the case is under consideration," said Gupta.
Referring to all-party meeting to form a united front for protecting Article 35-A, he said that the time had come to expose the "double speak" of the parties.
"On one hand, Congress and NC encouraged Rohiangyas and others to settle illegally in Jammu during their tenure, for reasons known, and on other hand, if for the growth of our institutions, legalmigration of intellectuals is required, it is being opposed in the garb of Article 35-A," said Gupta.

"If the migration of people from other states could destroy the basic culture of J&K, states like Gujarat, Himachal and Punjab would have perished by now," the BJP leader claimed.
Misleading people on various issues including the one under discussion (Article 35-A), has become the routine of parties like NC, Congress and others, he said.