Congress will never allow BJP to abrogate Article 370: Azad

Leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Tuesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party “cannot dare to touch Article 370 till the Congress party exists”.

Azad was speaking to media-persons after addressing a seriesof election meetings in remote villages of Kapran-Dooru, Larnoo-Kokernag andChatergul areas of Anantnag district to campaign for the Congress candidate forthe Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, who is also the party’s J&Kchief.

   

“BJP can’t abrogate it (Article 370) even if they rule thecountry for 200 years. Congress won’t allow anyone to touch the Article tillthe party exists in India,” he said.

Azad said that Mir would win the Anantnag Lok Sabha seatwith a thumping majority if there is no poll boycott.

“If people turn out in good numbers as they usually do inthe valley, our candidate from Anantnag will surely win by a huge margin,” hesaid.

Azad blamed the “wrong policies” of the BJP-led governmentfor the “deteriorating situation” in J&K.

“With its anti-people and wrong policies, the BJP undid allthe good work our party had done in the state,” he said.

On Election Commission’s ban on campaigning by Azam Khan andMayawati over alleged hate speeches and sexist remarks, Azad said: “The ECshould first ban Prime Minister Narendra Modi and all other BJP leaders fortheir hate speeches.”

Azad claimed that the Congress will emerge as thesingle-largest party in the country “if there are free and fair polls” and “ifEVMs are not tampered with.”

“BJP, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,is already sensing defeat. It is now relying on malfunctioning and tampering ofelectronic voting machines (EVMs),” Azad alleged, terming the saffron party as”EVM chor and EVM taud party”.

He said the BJP is “playing divisive politics ofpolarisation to retain power at the Centre”.

“This party can only create a wedge between Hindus andMuslims and make them fight against each other for their electoral gains,” Azadalleged.

He said the people of India have “lost trust” in the BJP andconsider it as “their biggest enemy”.

“The farmers don’t trust BJP at all as it made tall claimsof waving their debt. The poor man was ditched by the party as he was promisedthat Rs 15 lakh would be deposited in his account. Modi talked of Beti Bachaoand Beti Padao but neither he could give education to the girls nor protectthem. Even a three-year-old girl was raped in his rule. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs,Christians, Jains, Dalits, Adivasis—no one trusts them anymore,” Azad said.

On alliance with “secular parties in the country”, Azadsaid: “Yes, the secular forces need to come under one platform to fight thecommunal and divisive forces. However, the Congress party being a nationalparty has to protect its identity too. We already are in alliance with severalregional parties in several states like Kerala and Bihar. So when regionalparties demand a bigger share even up to 3/4th, the party has to take its owncourse”.

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