Jammu: Extremist Hindu leader and working president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP Praveen Togadia on Sunday said that Article 370, which gives special statues to J&K under the Indian Constitution, will be scrapped.
“Article 370 will go…It has to go,” Togadia said addressing a rally here. “If Hyderabad and Junagarh which were merged in the Indian Union under similar terms of Accession do not enjoy any special status, then why is it available to Jammu Kashmir?” he said.
He also called for giving state subject rights to the West Pakistan refugees, saying people will not tolerate any government that is opposed to it.
“They can vote in Lok Sabha elections, but not in Assembly polls in the state,” he said, asking whether it was not part of India.
Criticising Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed for his praise of Pakistan and releasing senior Hurriyat Masrat Alam, the VHP leader accused Mufti of toeing the Pakistani line.
He asked Mufti to apologise for praising Pakistan and called for Alam’s re-arrest as he was behind the 2010 agitation in the Valley.
Warning Mufti that “people of the country will catch hold of you by the ear and make you sit at home”, Togadia said, “You do not have the absolute mandate for taking such decisions…You are in power at the mercy of Hindus.”
“You have the mandate to create jobs, revive tourism, trade and spread education, besides restoring peace and development in the state. By praising Pakistan and releasing those ‘responsible for setting Kashmir afire’, you are choosing the oath that takes the state to the situation prevailing in 1990. The people of the country will not allow it,” he added.
Togadia said the people of India “will not forgive Mufti for releasing five hardcore militants in exchange of his daughter Dr Rubiya Sayeed (in 1989)”.—Agencies
