New Delhi: Blunting the opposition accusation against abrogating Article 370, BJP Working President, J. P. Nadda, today cited historical facts to prove that the article was temporary, and not supported by the Constituent Assembly and certainly not approved by B. R. Ambedkar.
Nadda, while speaking to a gathering in Bengaluru, said that Jawaharlal Nehru asked the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Sheikh Abdullah to convince Ambedkar about imposing Article 370, Ambedkar had categorically said ‘unacceptable’ to the proposition.
B. R. Ambedkar is said to have said, “You want us to protect your borders, provide food and connectivity but you do not want citizenship rights for Indians in J&K. This is unacceptable to me.”
The BJP leader also pointed out that Gopalaswami Ayyangar, a member of the Drafting committee of the Indian Constitution had told the Constituent Assembly that Article 370 would remain temporary and transitional.
Earlier in the day, BJP National President, Amit Shah, came down heavily against Congress and its former President Rahul Gandhi for being against the abrogation of Article 370. He also said that Rahul Gandhi is a new comer into politics and thus do not know about the sacrifices that RSS-BJP have done for keeping Kashmir as part of India.
Amit Shah said, “Rahul Baba you have come into politics now, but three generations of BJP have given their life for Kashmir, for the abrogation of Article 370. It’s not a political matter for us, it’s part of our goal to keep Bharat maa undivided.”
He added, “I want to remind him (Rahul Gandhi) that Atal Bihari Vajpayee had praised Indira Gandhi after we had won the Bangladesh war because it wasn’t a political issue, but a national issue.”
