Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 8: Former Union Minister and MLA, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta has decried the opposition by the Congress and its likes to the suggestion for abrogation of Article 370 granting separate status to Jammu and Kashmir.
This Article, he said, is against the national interests and unity of the country as having its roots to the sad communal partition of the country in 1947 by the British imperialists. It is deplorable that the Congress has not learnt any lesson from the past and is pampering communally infected separatism but for ill designed vote bank politics.
Prof Gupta, who is an author of a book- “Article 370 a thorn” said this obnoxious provision is still being retained even after 60 years in the Constitution despite the then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru had assured the nationalist leaders including Moulana Mohani and others that it was a temporary measure and would wither away with the passage of time. But it was strange that scions of Nehru legacy are pleading for retention of this highly controversial measure.
Prof Gupta challenged the protagonists of this provision to have an open debate on its merits and demerits instead of raising communal passions. This provision, he said, has caused more harm than any good to the people even that of this State.
In this regard, he pointed out that democratic rights have been jeopardized and the development has been badly affected to the extent that the dependence is mounting at the Centre and several evils have come up including the corruption, unemployment, little industrial development leading to the unemployment and many other problems.
Prof Gupta observed that this provision is encouraging secessionism and armed militancy to the benefit of powers hostile to India.
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