Digvijaya says Cong will ‘relook’ scrapping of Art 370, BJP hits back

“The decision of revoking Article 370 and reducing the statehood of J&K is extremely, I would say, is a sad decision, and the Congress party would certainly have to have a relook on this issue,” Digvijaya Singh said during a conversation on the social media app Clubhouse.

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday said the scrapping of Article 370 and abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood were “sad decisions”, and that his party will have a “relook” at the issue if the Congress comes to power at the Centre.

“The decision of revoking Article 370 and reducing the statehood of J&K is extremely, I would say, is a sad decision, and the Congress party would certainly have to have a relook on this issue,” Singh said during a conversation on the social media app Clubhouse.

He was responding to a question on the “way forward” on the issue after the Modi government is voted out of power.

The BJP slammed Singh over his comments, accusing him of “spitting venom on India”.

The Congress’s discomfort over Singh’s comments was telling. Spokesperson Pawan Khera said the party’s position on J&K was clearly stated in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) resolution of August 6, 2019. “This is the only stance of the party. And I urge and request all senior leaders to refer to the same,” Khera told reporters without elaborating.

The opinion within the party on abrogation of Article 370 has always been divided. While the Congress had opposed abrogation of Article 370 in Parliament, the CWC had in its August 6, 2019 resolution, which Khera referred to, shied away from openly demanding restoration of Article 370.

The CWC had attacked the BJP government on the manner in which Article 370 was abrogated and J&K was split, saying it was done in a “unilateral, brazen and totally undemocratic manner” by “misinterpreting” provisions of the Constitution.

The BJP, meanwhile, targeted Singh over his comments. “This is the same person who had dubbed the Pulwama attack as an accident and described the 26/11 Mumbai attack as an RSS conspiracy,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.

Union minister Giriraj Singh, too, slammed Singh. “Congress’s first love is Pakistan. Digvijaya Singh conveyed Rahul Gandhi’s message to Pakistan. Congress will help Pakistan in grabbing Kashmir,” he said.

Even as the BJP targeted him, Singh posted a tweet in Hindi, saying that “this bunch of illiterate people cannot probably differentiate between ‘shall’ and ‘consider’.”

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