Dinesh Manhotra

After maintaining a ‘guarded’ silence on Article 370 of the Constitution for over three years while it was in the PDP-BJP coalition government, the BJP has started raking up this contentious issue ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

BJP leaders seized the opportunity to return to its old agenda of abrogation of Article 370 at a function organised to observe the death anniversary of BR Ambedkar on Thursday.

“Ambedkar was totally against incorporating Article 370 into the Constitution. He was also opposed to granting any special status to J&K,” said Ashok Koul, general secretary of the BJP.

“Had the then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru agreed to the views of Ambedkar and not adopted a rigid stand to appease Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, the political and social scenario in the state would have been different with no space for separatist ideology,” Koul said.

Sources said the party had decided to return to its core agenda of ‘discrimination’ and the abrogation of Article 370 to rake up sentiments of the people of the Jammu region before elections to reap political benefits.

The BJP is facing anger of the people in Jammu and Ladakh regions following the failure of the former party ministers in the coalition government to come up to the people’s expectations.

During its tenure in the government, the saffron party had given strict directions to its leaders not to touch any contentious issue, like Article 370.

Courtesy:The Tribune,Dec 07,2018