No rolling back of Article 370, but Legislative Assembly soon: Ram Madhav
Hitting out at regional parties of the Union Territory (UT), the BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav today ruled out rollback of the decision to revoke Article 370 that granted special status to the erstwhile J&K state.
Madhav also dared the National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership to go to the people on ground over Article 370, abolished on August 5 last year, instead of tweeting from closed doors.
“There can be a political discourse. Go to the people and tell them that we want Article 370 back. We are not opposed to the political argument, but we maintain that Article 370 was a roadblock and we abrogated it. You tell people it was beneficial…that is politics. But, here you will find people who will get others killed over it (Article 370) or leaders who just tweet from home. All leaders are free…some are in Kashmir, but they only tweet. They do not come on the streets…no matter how much you mourn, Article 370 is not going to come back. One year has passed…If NC and PDP want to keep on mourning (abrogation of Article 370) for one more year…if they want to keep on tweeting, let them…very shortly a legislative Assembly of the UT will be formed. Legislative representation too will happen and the UT will march towards development,” Madhav said while addressing party workers at the Tagore Hall here.
The Legislative Assembly would be formed after the completion of the delimitation exercise. However, he said the priority was to fight Covid.
Earlier, Madhav, along with MoS PMO Jitender Singh, BJP national vice-president Avinash Rai Khanna and J&K president Ravinder Raina, visited Bandipora in north Kashmir to condole the killings of three party workers. Former BJP district president Bandipora, Wasim Bari and his father Bashir Ahmad and brother Umar Bari, who were also party workers, were killed in a militant attack on Wednesday.
A cheque worth Rs 10 lakh was handed over as “immediate relief” to the family by the BJP leaders. Madhav said all BJP leaders of the country stand by the bereaved family in this difficult situation. Those who are responsible for the act should be neutralised…our workers should also get adequate security…this is also our demand,” Madhav told reporters in Bandipora.
Bari, as per the BJP, had played a key role in attracting youths to the party that is striving to firm its foothold in the Valley. Even as the BJP had never won an Assembly or parliamentary elections in the Valley, the party won over 100 seats in the 2018 municipal elections amid a boycott by the NC and PDP.
