All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi. (File)Vehemently opposing the revocation of Jammu-Kashmir’s special status, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi Tuesday said the BJP has failed to live up to their constitutional duties and indulged in “breach of a constitutional promise”.
“I stand to oppose the bill. Definitely BJP has lived up to electoral promise in their manifesto, but you have not lived up to your constitutional duties. You’ve indulged in breach of a constitutional promise,” Owaisi said in Lok Sabha today.
Owaisi also challenged the government to release all Kashmiris and give them a chance to “celebrate” as their party members have been doing. “BJP MPs are celebrating saying that this is Diwali. Why can’t you release all the Kashmiris? Let them come out, let them also celebrate. They cannot even use a cellphone, they cannot even go out. What are you talking about?”
Questioning how Kashmiris will celebrate Eid on Monday, Owaisi said, “What will happen on Eid? Eid is on Monday. Are you assuming that Kashmiris instead of sacrificing lamb should sacrifice themselves? If you want that I’m sure they’ll do that, they’ve been doing that.”
A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah diluted the special status to Jammu and Kashmir guaranteed under Article 370 of the Constitution without scrapping the provision, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government moved the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019, in Lok Sabha. The Bill to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature similar to Delhi or Puducherry, and Ladakh without one like Chandigarh, was passed with a two-thirds majority in Rajya Sabha.
Earlier today, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday broke his silence and said the government’s decision to bifurcate the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories felt like “your body was being carved”.
“Yeh maine Hindustan nahin dekha. Maine kabhi yeh Hindustan nahin dekha. Yeh Hindustan hum sabka Hindustan hai, Hindu ho, Muslim ho, Sikh ho, isai ho, yeh sabka Hindustan tha. (I have never seen this India. This India is of all of us. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs),” he said.
