Azad wants regional parties to talk about development, not Article 370

SRINAGAR: Ex-Congress politician and former leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday advised mainstream political parties to talk about development and not rake up Article 370 issue, while making it clear that he doesn’t have a “magical lamp” to get the scrapped Article restored.
Talking to reporters after meeting several delegations here, Azad said he doesn’t have “Aladdin’s magical lamp” to restore Article 370, nor will he tell the public that he will get it restored through the Supreme Court.
Advising mainstream parties against raking up Article 370 issue, he said: “I want to tell political parties to rake up the issue of development and keep it (Article 370) away.” He added that one lakh people have been killed in Kashmir due to emotional slogans.
Azad said that he won’t mislead people over the issue of Article 370. “There are two ways to restore Article 370, i.e. Parliament and Supreme Court. In Parliament, 377 MPs of eight parties voted in favour of Narendra Modi (for nullification of Article 370) and nine smaller parties with 77 votes supported us (voted against scrapping of Article 370). It will take time for 77 members to become 377. I won’t tell people to vote for me so that I will restore Article 370,” he said.
Azad said the apex court can restore Article 370 but it has not yet heard the case. Even the bench has not yet been formed.
“No party can claim that if it comes to power it will direct the top court to hear the case. Can anyone claim that he will get a favourable judgment from the Supreme Court within six months? Even the government can’t do so as the Supreme Court is supreme,” he said.
The senior politician said he was the lone MP who vociferously opposed nullification of Article 370 in Parliament.