The BJP on Thursday slammed the Congress-National Conference alliance for their remarks on restoration of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir after the Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif backed the allies over their stance on Jammu &Kashmir’s special status. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and several other BJP leaders posted Asif’s remarks to a Pakistani channel that his country shared the view of the Congress-NC alliance that Article 370, which gave the union territory special powers and was scrapped in August 2019, should be restored.

The controversy erupted after Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif during an interview with Geo News said that the Shehbaz Sharif government and the Congress-National Conference alliance are on the “same page” on the issue of restoration of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

Shah said the Pakistan defence minister’s statement on the Congress and National Conference lending support to Article 370 and 35A has once “again exposed” the opposition party. Shah also claimed that the tune of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s party and Pakistan has always been the same and the Congress has always been “hand in glove with the anti-national forces”.

He said the statement of Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif proved that the neighbouring country and the Congress have the “same intentions and agenda”.

“Pakistan defence minister’s statement about the Congress and the JKNC’s support on Article 370 and 35A has once again exposed the Congress. This statement has once again made it clear that the Congress and Pakistan have the same intentions and agenda. For the last few years, Rahul Gandhi has been standing with every anti-India force, hurting the sentiments of the countrymen,” Shah wrote on X in Hindi. The home minister said be it asking for proof of air strikes and surgical strikes against Pakistan or saying “objectionable things” about the Indian Army, the tune of the Congress Party and Pakistan has always been the same.

The Congress has always been “hand in glove with the anti-national forces”, he asserted. “But, the Congress party and Pakistan forget that there is Modi government at the Centre, hence neither Article 370 nor terrorism is going to come back in Kashmir,” he said.

BJP’s Amit Malviya also attacked Congress and Rahul Gandhi, sharing the video of the interview on social media. “Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif, on Hamid Mir’s Capital Talk on Geo News says, ‘Pakistan and National Conference-Congress alliance are on the same page in Jammu & Kashmir to restore Article 370 and 35A,’” he wrote.

Former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekar echoed similar sentiments, accusing Congress of aligning with Pakistan on various issues. He questioned what leverage Pakistan might have over Congress.

BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh, who is in charge of the party’s affairs in Jammu and Kashmir, claimed the opposition alliance is running Pakistani agenda in the ongoing polls. Ram Madhav, one of the two BJP election in-charges for the polls, said on X while sharing Asif’s reported comments, “A clear challenge to people of J&K. NC-Congress alliance is ‘on same page’ with Pakistan, declares Pak Defence Minister Khwaja Asif. People will teach a big lesson to this treasonous alliance in the elections. J&K will stand with those who stand with Hindustan, not those ‘on same page’ with Pakistan.” Chugh alleged that it is now clear that the Congress-NC alliance is working at the behest of Pakistani government, and that the intention of Pakistan to interfere in the elections has been exposed as well.

It has been a key agenda of the Abdullah and Gandhi families to keep the situation unstable in Jammu and Kashmir, he charged.

Expressing confidence in the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Chugh said they would not succumb to Pakistan’s agenda. “The nationalist people of Jammu and Kashmir will not allow the implementation of Pakistan’s agenda through the Gandhis and Abdullahs.