Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Oct 13: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that Congress, National Conference (NC) and other opposition parties cannot dare to oppose the abrogation of Article 370, and that is why, the leaders of these political parties are, in their statements, beating about the bush without even uttering the word “Article 370”.
In an exclusive interview with ET Now, covering a vast range of subjects including Jammu & Kashmir, North East and governance reforms brought by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Dr Jitendra Singh said, Congress, NC and other political parties have lost connect with the common masses and, therefore, till August 5th their leaders were going around crying hoarse that if Article 370 is abrogated, there will be an earthquake, upheaval etc, but when they saw that the Modi government’s decision had been hailed unanimously across the country, they decided not to go against the public sentiment.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, he was in the election campaign in Haryana where he observed that even in the heat of campaigning, not a single Congress leader uttered a single word against revocation of Article 370 and in fact, many of them tactically hailed it. This, he said, is because of the realization in the Congress leadership that in the ongoing State elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, whatever small percentage of vote is left for them, will also go out of their hands if they speak against abrogation of Article 370.
Same is the predicament for National Conference (NC), said Dr Jitendra Singh, and referred to the NC leaders making fictitious statements about the imaginary hardship suffered by their leaders during house arrest and finding lame excuses to run away first from the Panchayat elections and now from the BDC elections. He said, NC, like Congress, should make its basic stand clear and tell the people whether it supports the BJP decision to abrogate or opposes it, and let the people pass a verdict on them.
Dr Jitendra Singh challenged Congress and NC to prove their credibility by making Article 370 an election issue and commit to the people that they are opposed to its abrogation.
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