Karra flays RSS-BJP over Article 35A issue

Senior Congress leader Tariq Karra said today that the petition in the Supreme Court seeking abrogation of Article 35A of the Constitution was a "sinister and nefarious plan of the RSS and the BJP" to fiddle with the distinct identity of Jammu and Kashmir.
Karra, a former parliamentarian, said he had filed an application in the Supreme Court to empanel him as a private respondent in the case, the hearing on which will be held after Diwali.
"The application has been accepted and I would like to assure the people of Jammu and Kashmir that we have a very strong case historically, legally and constitutionally... We will not tolerate any attempt to fiddle with it," he said.

An NGO has moved the Supreme Court seeking abrogation of the provision, which gives special rights to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir.
The plea said the state government, under the guise of Article 35A and Article 370, which grants special autonomous status to the state, has been discriminating against non- residents who are debarred from buying properties, getting a government job or voting in the local elections.
Karra said the RSS and the BJP was taking an "indirect judicial route" on the matter so as to "take a public posture of not being involved directly".

"By adopting this method, they are planning to sell tomorrow the fulfilling of their promise to the electorate of abrogating Articles 35A and 370 and at the same time creating a room for the PDP to say that this was done by the court and not by the BJP. This is a fixed match," Karra told reporters here.

The PDP and the BJP are in alliance in Jammu and Kashmir.
Karra said Jammu and Kashmir is not the only state which enjoys special powers under the Constitution.
"The entire Northeast and Goa do enjoy special rights under Article 371, but I don't know why these Articles are not being challenged. Why are these not being treated as unconstitutional and why only Article 370 seems to be unconstitutional?" he asked.
He said the Congress high command had approved his plea in the apex court and assured him of full support.