PM dares Oppn to bring back 370, triple talaq

Mumbai: Highlighting the salience of the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution yet again, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dared the Opposition parties on Sunday to bring back the provision that granted a special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

The BJP has already made it clear it would make the abrogation of Article 370 its main electoral plank in the Maharashtra Assembly poll campaign.

Addressing his first rally during the campaign for the Vidhan Sabha polls, in Jalgaon, Mr Modi said Jammu and Kashmir was “not just a parcel of land, but the crown of India”, and claimed it would not take more than four months to normalise the kind of situation that prevailed there for 40 years.

Stating that it was the Opposition parties which were “politicising the unprecedented decision of scrapping of Article 370,” he accused them of “speaking on the same lines as the neighbouring country” on the issue. “The Opposition leaders thought exactly the opposite of what the entire nation feels about Jammu and Kashmir,” he said. “You look at the statements made by the Congress and NCP of late... They seem to be speaking the lines of the neighbouring country,” Mr Modi said, referring to Pakistan. Accusing Opposition leaders of shedding crocodile tears on the issue of Article 370, he said: “I challenge them, if they have the guts, to declare in their manifesto for the state elections and future polls too, that they will bring back Articles 370 and 35A, which the BJP, the Modi government, scrapped... that they will change the August 5 decision. Stop shedding these crocodile tears on the issue.”

Wondering aloud whether bringing back Article 370 will be acceptable to the people, he said the leaders of the Opposition parties would have no future if they were to do so. Hailing the move, Mr Modi said earlier it was “unthinkable” that such a decision could be taken, and only separatism and terrorism spread in Jammu and Kashmir over the years. The scope for development of the poor, women, dalits and exploited sections was slim. Members of the Valmiki community in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh were even deprived of their human rights, he added.

Mr Modi also hit out at the Opposition over the issue of banning triple talaq, alleging they had tried to ensure that “Muslim sisters did not receive justice”. “But I kept the promise made to Muslim mothers and sisters,” he said, and also challenged the Opposition “to bring back the practice of triple talaq”.

The PM praised the Devendra Fadnavis government for its five-year performance, which he said was “corruption-free”, and inspired confidence among all sections of society, including farmers and industries.