Bharatiya Janta Party has now invited J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for an open public debate over the issue of abrogation of Article 370 and also advised him to devote some Twitter space to explain Sheikh Abdullah’s “silence” on “Autonomy” between 1975 and 1983 when he was the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir with absolute majority and full Congress support in the State legislative Assembly.
To settle the ongoing war of words over Article 370, BJP national executive member & J&K chief spokesperson Jitendra Singh on Saturday invited Omar by saying, “We are ready for an open public debate with facts, figures and evidence to prove that Article 370 has done more harm than good to the people of the State including those of Kashmir valley”.
Responding to the Omar’s Tweet on senior BJP leader lK Advani blog, Singh explained that between 1998 to 2004 Advani was a part of a multi-party coalition Government of which Omar Abdullah was also a part and the BJP did not have sufficient numbers to do anything about Article 370.
“Abrogation of Article 370 is BJP’s consistent stand unlike National Conference which rakes up “Autonomy” only when out of power or when fearing loss of power,” he added.
About Omar Abdullah’s Tweet seeking to learn from Advani’s “wisdom” about the constitutional mechanism to repeal Article 370, Singh said, Omar will have to study the Constitution of India to learn that there is a already a constitutional mechanism in place which was formulated by the collective “wisdom” of the makers of Constitution and none of whom belonged to BJP or Jan Sangh which was not even born at that time.
Singh went on to say that if Omar Abdullah sincerely wants to make himself further “wiser” on the issue of Article 370, he is welcome to engage himself in an open public debate with us and allow the people to judge who stands where. Twitter is too subjective and unilateral medium for a fair bilateral debate, he added.
He said Article 370 has deprived the State of industrial investments, denied the youth of potential job opportunities, denied protection or reservation to certain sections of society and thus stood in the way of J&K becoming a beneficiary of India’s rapid march towards global economic development, he added. The National Conference led Government has deliberately misled the people of State in the name of Article 370 to deprive them of democratic privileges like 73rd, 74th Amendments of Panchayat Act and lokayukta because it would have curtailed the National Conference rulers’ autocratic authority, he alleged.
Earlier in his blog, senior BJP leader lK Advani had advised J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to avoid using words like “cheating” and “deceiving” for the Opposition party, whose stand on abrogation of Article 370 has been unequivocal, forthright and consistent. Advani’s jibe at Abdullah evoked strong reaction from the Chief Minister who questioned the BJP leaders’ silence on Article 370 during NDA rule.