BJP wants to hoodwink voters over Article 370: Tarigami, Cong says special status to J-K 'permanent'

CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami Monday said BJP's inclusion of abrogating Articles 370 and 35A in its manifesto was another exercise by the saffron party to hoodwink the voters ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Congress also hit out at the BJP over the issue, saying the special status granted to the state under the Constitution was "permanent and irrevocable" and cannot be diluted.

Tarigami said an examination of the BJP's 2014 manifesto reveals that all the promises, including providing two crore jobs per year, doubling the income of farmers and other promises, have proved a "hoax".

"The promise of abrogation of Article 370 and annulling Article 35A in its election manifesto is another exercise by the BJP to hoodwink the voters ahead of the general election," Tarigami said while reacting to the release of the BJP manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls in which the party reiterated its commitment to scrap Article 370, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

The party also resolved to annul Article 35A of the Constitution, which bars people from outside to own property in Jammu and Kashmir.

The communist leader said the only achievement of the BJP in the past five years has been "dividing society through hate campaigns".

"The BJP has failed to deliver on all the promises and is now trying to rake up those issues which are divisive aimed at polarising the society further," the CPI(M) leader said.

He alleged that the BJP has pushed Kashmir into the lap of the cycle of violence.

"It has resulting in huge number of deaths of civilians and security forces personnel.

"The situation in Kashmir has reached to an extent that authorities had to ban the movement of civilian traffic on national highway for two days a week. Such a mindless order can only have serious repercussions," he added.

Tarigami said Article 370 was in the basic structure of the Indian Constitution providing a constitutional basis for the relationship of J&K with the Union.

"The CPI(M) has filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court against the removal of Article 370 and Article 35A as it is the lifeline of state's relation with the Union.

"Erosion of Article 370 has already weakened the relation of Jammu and Kashmir with the Union of India. Any attempt to abrogate it will be disastrous and will have unimaginable repercussions," he said.

Jmmu and Kashmir Congress Committee president G A Mir said the BJP is "misleading" people over the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A and other sensitive issues for electoral gains.

"Special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir is permanent and irrevocable. It cannot be diluted," he said at an election rally in south Kashmir.

Mir reiterated Congress' commitment to safeguard the special status granted to the state.

"The matter of the fact is that the BJP will lose upcoming Lok Sabha elections miserably and it is desperate to woo the voters by exploiting them on sensitive issues," he said and termed the BJP manifesto a "bundle of lies".