Ghulam Nabi Azad on Article 370: Jammu & Kashmir’s head chopped off, shame it’s reduced to non-entity

Azad said it was a ‘matter of shame’ that the Centre had reduced the state to a non-entity with Lt Governor’s rule.

He said an “atom bomb” exploded in the House when the Home Minister (Amit Shah) spoke on Monday, claiming that the “state was being removed from the map of India” by being bifurcated and converted into a Union Territory.

“Today, you have again laid the foundation to disintegrate. Integration does not take place through legislation, its happens through the heart, Azad said.

He dared the Government to bring a Bill to convert Gujarat into a Union Territory, saying it should not take things lightly, and accused the Centre of muzzling the state’s history while being “drunk” with power.

Ahead of the Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement on Article 370, Azad said that the entire Kashmir Valley is under curfew and three former chief ministers of the state and political leaders have been placed under house arrest. He wanted the situation to be discussed first but Chairman Venkaiah Naidu allowed Shah to move the resolution.

The reorganisation bill provides for the formation of the union territory of Ladakh without legislature and a separate one for Jammu and Kashmir with the legislature.

Shah moved the resolution to abolish Article 370 as well as the state reorganisation bill along with listed bills to extend the reservation for economically weaker sections in educational institutions and government jobs in Jammu and Kashmir. The reorganisation bill provides for the formation of the union territory of Ladakh without legislature and a separate one for Jammu and Kashmir with the legislature.