SRINAGAR : Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is mixing Article 370 of the Constitution, which provides special status to J&K, with the State’s residency law.
“My problem is not with misinformation about this (State residency or State subject) law. It will take some time to percolate across the country.
“My problem is with people like Modi, who knowingly or unknowingly, I don’t know which (it is), seek to sort of join Article 370 with our State subject laws,” he told reporters at Sopore, 50 km from here.
The State’s residency laws, popularly known as State Subject laws, have absolutely nothing to do with Article 370, Omar said.
“The Aritlce 370 determines the relation between the Centre and the State. It is the bridge that joins J&K with rest of the country. Our State subject laws are our own. The State subject law as it exists now is not even a post-independence product. It is a pre-independence product,” Omar said.
The Chief Minister was responding to Modi’s speech in Jammu yesterday in which he cited the example of Omar and his sister Sarah, claiming that women were discriminated in J&K.
Responding to question about Modi’s call for a debate on abrogation of Article 370 in Parliament, Omar said his speech in Jammu yesterday was a climbdown from the known BJP stand on Article 370.
“At a rally at Madhopur (near JK-Punjab border), Modi called for complete abrogation of Article 370. What he says in J&K and what he says in the rest of country, we will have to see. I will wait and see what the BJP puts in its election manifesto,” he said.
The BJP was looking for a regional alliance partner in Kashmir, Omar said.
“It obviously seems the BJP is looking for a regional alliance partner which is not the National Conference.” (AGENCIES)
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