Congress meets to put house in order on Article 370 stand

New Delhi: Faced with differences within its rank and file over the stand on abrogation of Article 370, the Congress on Friday held a meeting of all general secretaries, state in-charges, chairpersons of AICC departments and MPs in which Rahul Gandhi is understood to have forcefully defended the party’s position in the matter.

Sources said that the meeting began by Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad giving a short history of Kashmir to the people present followed by a presentation by former home minister P. Chidambaram on the legalities of the matter.

However, Mr Gandhi who arrived a good one hour after the meeting began is the one who most forcefully defended the party’s stand to oppose the abrogation of Article 370.

He spoke for 10 minutes and questioned leaders who had at an earlier meeting said that they stand to lose votes if abrogation of Aticle 370 is opposed considering the prevailing sentiments among masses.

Mr Gandhi, who can now safely be considered the outgoing president said that the party needs to strongly defend the constitutional position in the matter and stick to its stand.

Friday’s meetings assumes significance in view of the face that many leaders have questioned the party’s stand in the matter and some like the Congress chief whip in Rajya Sabha Bhubneswar Kalita have quit the party and joined BJP in protest.

At the special CWC held earlier this week, another senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia had questioned the stand and had said that it was not necessary to oppose each and every Bill of the government considering the sentiments on ground.  

On Tuesday, Mr Scindia had tweeted: “I support the move on #JammuAndKashmir & #Ladakh and its full integration into union of India. Would have been better if constitutional process had been followed.”

 No questions could have been raised then. Nevertheless, this is in our country’s interest and I support this”.

The CWC resolution adopted on Wednesday had deplored the “unilateral”, “brazen” and “undemocratic” way in which Article 370 was revoked. It said this provision that accorded special powers to Jammu and Kashmir should have been “honoured” till it was amended constitutionally after due consultation.