Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on June 13 asked the Congress leadership to make its stand clear on the purported remarks of Digvijaya Singh that his party will have a “relook” at Article 370 revocation if it returns to power, saying “time of silence is over”.
A row erupted on June 12 over Congress leader Mr. Singh’s comments in an audio chat on social media that his party will have a “relook” at Article 370 revocation and Jammu and Kashmir’s lost statehood if it returns to power, with the BJP accusing him of spewing venom against India in “collaboration” with Pakistan. “It is now more than a day when the central leadership of the Congress is maintaining a conspicuous silence on its stand about Article 370. Does the Congress want restoration of Article 370 as Digvijay Singh has indicated? Time of silence is over. Please explain your clear stand,” Mr. Prasad wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Singh had said, “The decision of revoking Article 370 and reducing the statehood of J&K is extremely, I would say, sad decision, and the Congress party would certainly have a relook on the issue.” Mr. Singh was responding to a question about the “way forward” on the issue “once the Modi government is gone”.
While abrogating Article 370, good governance was promised both in J&K and Ladakh. The speed with which vaccination against COVID-19 is going on even in the remotest parts of J&K and Ladakh is a sign of pro-people good governance in the region, Mr. Prasad said in another tweet.
Mr. Singh’s remarks to a person, who the BJP said was a journalist of Pakistani origin, were seized by its leaders on June 12 to unleash a torrent of criticism against the Opposition party and demand statements from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi on the issue.