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Shifting stand on separatist Article 370 2/29/2016 12:32:09 AM Early Times Report jammu, Feb 28: Today's BJP is not the BJP that defended its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's stand that he took on December 1, 2013 on Article 370 while addressing Lalkar Rally at MAM Stadium, Jammu. Narendra Modi had demanded debate on Article 370, saying it would be retained if found that it had helped the State and its people and would be abrogated if found it had harmed the State and its people. His stand evoked a strong reaction and many said that the BJP had diluted its stand on Article 370. It was the then Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, who defended the Modi's stand and asserted that the BJP's stand on Article 370 remained unchanged. "There is no dilution of party stand that the provision which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir should be scrapped. A debate was needed to assess whether it has caused harm or provided benefits. Article 370 is the root cause of the feeling of separatism in Kashmir valley and BJP wanted that there must be a debate over its profits and loss," he said on January 24, 2014. "We want a historical assessment of the Article. Whether it has caused benefits or harm. It is our misfortune that when a leader of our party says its impact should be evaluated, our friends in media call it a dilution of our stand and we are ready to reassess it," he also said. He added: "One day, this Article will have to go. There are so many legal complications involved in repealing it that it depends on political thought. Ideally, it should be deleted because it was a temporary, transitory provision…The Government still has flexibility to dilute it. A large part of the impact of Article 370 can be diluted into extinction". Jaitley also tore into those who used to link the debate on Article 370 with the issues of Hindu-Muslim and secular-non-secular. "We want a debate so that we can tell you why it should be repealed. The debate over the Article 370 has been 'politically subverted' and BJP's critics have linked it with the issues of Hindu-Muslim and secular-non-secular. We are alone in asking for its repeal but it's a splendid isolation because I have no doubt that a very large part of India's public opinion is in agreement with us". Further warning that there was an attempt to weaken political and constitutional relations the State has with rest of the country, Jaitley had said that the separate or special status, which the Article gave to Jammu and Kashmir, had "travelled in the direction of separatism since its inception". "National Conference (which rules the State) demand pre-1953 status which means separate flag, separate constitution, Prime Minister, permit system (for outsiders)…So the relationship between the Centre and the State loosened. PDP goes a step further and talk of self-rule. So there is a separate status, second is pre-1953 status and the third is Self Rule. The fourth step is 'Azadi' (independence) which separatists want. Behind all these thoughts, the idea is to loosen the constitutional and political relationship," he had said while taking on the votaries of Article 370 and votaries of autonomy and self-rule. This was the stand of the BJP just before the general elections in 2014. What is its stand today or what stand the BJP took after coming into power at the Centre and in Jammu and Kashmir? The BJP has taken a complete U-turn on its stand and endorsed it and even agreed to go beyond it. It never encouraged debate on Article 370. In fact, it punished those in the BJP, who spoke against this Article during the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The people know who was punished by the BJP. The BJP punished former political advisor to the Jammu and Kashmir BJP president, who had criticized the agenda of alliance. The party punished him saying he broke the party's discipline. This should explain everything. The truth is that the BJP of today is not the BJP either of December 2013 or January 2014. It is a different kind of BJP.   Share This News with Your Friends on Social Network     Comment on this Story

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