NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said that the methods used to revoke Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir could be used again by the BJP-led Central government in any state in the country to suit its purpose.
"The rights of the legislature is to respect the wishes and aspirations of the people of Kashmir are suddenly transferred to the Parliament where the BJP is in majority and where there are only four Kashmiri MPs out of whom one was in house arrest in Srinagar. Is this Indian democracy at its finest, or is it a violation of the basic spirit of the Constitution? If it can be done to Kashmir today it can be done to any part of India tomorrow," Tharoor said in a video shared by Congress' official Twitter handle.
The video was shared by the Congress exactly a month after the BJP decided to revoke Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
In the video, Tharoor questioned the methods used by the Centre and said, "The Constitutional sleight of hand used by the government has been extremely worrying for those of us who care about Indian democracy, they have essentially changed the status of a state while its legislature is suspended. The Governor of the state, who is appointed by the Centre, takes upon himself to decide in the absence of state legislature what the Centre decides is ok."
The Congress leader said that the situation is yet to return to normal in the Kashmir valley, a month later after it was rid of its special status and explained the hardships being faced by the people.
"30 days ago Kashmir was literally plunged into darkness as people were essentially shut up in their homes, politicians were detained and we found a situation with no phone, no internet communication, no schools and colleges no exams. This is not a normal situation, there's not much indication of improvement," Tharoor said.
"How would you like to live without any means of communicating with your loved ones for a full month, that's what Kashmiris have been subjected to. I asked in the Parliament, when will Kashmiri parents be able to drop off their children off at school, without having to worry that no one can call them if anything goes wrong. If we can restore those conditions of normalcy then we can talk of Kashmir as a normal place one again," he added.