Constitution’s Articles 370, 35A will be scrapped by Modi govt: Union Minister

Union minister Thaawarchand Gehlot expressed confidence on Saturday that Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s “dream” of scrapping Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution would be fulfilled by the Narendra Modi government.

The Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment wasspeaking to reporters here after launching the BJP’s membership drive, whichcoincided with the 118th birth anniversary of Mookerjee, the founder of the JanSangh, the BJP’s predecessor.

   

Article 370 grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir andlimits Parliament’s power to make laws concerning the state. Article 35Aempowers the state assembly to define ‘permanent residents’ for bestowingspecial rights on them.

“Mookerjee fought against (operation of) Articles 370and 35A in Kashmir and wanted to abolish these articles from the state. We havebeen making efforts to fulfil his dream since the time of Jan Sangh. But now itseems the time has come,” Gehlot, a senior BJP leader, said. “Boththe issues were part of our election manifesto. We will be successful infulfilling his dream by abrogating these articles,” he added.Asked if the party aimed to abolish the twoarticles within a specified period, Gehlot said, “We will be successful inabolishing these articles in the second term of Modi government. The partymanifesto is for five years, but it will be done much earlier.”

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