Congress Had Many Opportunities To Repeal Article 370 But Didn’t Dare: Nadda

Mumbai: BJP president JP Nadda said on Saturday that the Congress party had several opportunities to repeal Section 370, which gave special status to the then state of Jammu and Kashmir, but also said that it did not dare to do so.

Addressing a public meeting here, Nadda said, “The Congress has got majority government many times. Jawaharlal Nehru and Smt. (Indira) Gandhi got two majorities each time. Rajiv Gandhi came to power with majority once, but they could not date abrogate Article 370.”

He said that it is a central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which came to power in May with 303 MPs and abolished Article 370 in August.

“The people of Jammu and Kashmir are very happy after the repeal of Article 370. You must have heard the speech made by Ladakh BJP MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal in the Parliament. He had said, ‘Shasan karne mein aur raj karne mein antar hai’ (there is a difference between governing and ruling),” Nadda said.

The Narendra Modi government abolished the provision of Article 370 of the Constitution in August last year, which gave special status to the then state of Jammu and Kashmir. The erstwhile state was also divided into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

“Our party is based on ideology, ideas and organization. There are about 2,500 political parties in the country. Fifty-nine of these parties have received recognition from the election commission on the state level and there are seven national parties. However, most of these parties are based on nepotism,” he added.

Nadda, who was in Patna to inaugurate 11 new district party offices in the state, said that former party president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had planned that no district in the country shall remain without a BJP party office.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and like us on Facebook for the latest updates and interesting stories.