Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 26: The All India Backward Classes Union (AIBCU) has strongly opposed recent remarks by the Apni Party State President Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari supporting the restoration of Article 370, saying the provision only helped State Governments that denied justice to the OBC community.
In a meeting chaired by Mohammad Latif Qureshi, AIBCU members questioned whether the Apni Party leader, during his time as a Cabinet Minister in the PDP-BJP Government, ever worked to protect the rights of backward classes.
They condemned his statement blaming the Congress for the abrogation of Article 370 while also claiming to support its return.
The Union said that under Article 370, successive J&K Governments failed to implement the 1992 Supreme Court verdict on the Mandal Commission report.
They noted that J&K remained the only State where these recommendations were never enforced, despite ongoing struggles by the OBC community.
Members alleged that all political parties were responsible for sidelining OBCs, who were not even recognised properly and instead referred to as Other Social Castes (OSC).
This misrepresentation, they said, was a deliberate move to deny the community its due rights.
AIBCU made it clear that it will never support the return of Article 370. Instead, it reiterated its demand for a provision like Article 371 to safeguard land and job rights for locals in J&K.
Prominent participants in the meeting included Ashiq Hussain Hajam, Mohammad Manir Mugal, Mohammad Rashid Fouji, Abdul Razaq, SC Verma, Jagdish Verma, Gurmeet Singh, among others.
Follow our WhatsApp channel