KOCHI: ‘The Opposition should stop seeing Jammu and Kashmir through the prism of Pakistan, said Ram Madhav, BJP general secretary. He was addressing the ‘New India New Kashmir’ event organised by Ernakulam BJP on Sunday to explain the Centre’s decision to abolish Article 370.
Madhav alleged that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan opposed the move due to political expediency.
“Those opposing the decision, including the Chief Minister of Kerala, are doing so due to their ignorance or political expediency. They should understand that the Article was against the tenets of the Constitution. Instead of criticising the government for not consulting the Kashmiris before taking the decision, the CPM ought to ask whether the then Congress leadership consulted the people when they brought in the Article,” he said.
Ram Madhav credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with taking the stern decision to abrogate the Article.“It took just 72 hours to end the 72 years of agony made by the draconian Article 370. RSS has been demanding the removal of the article for the last seven decades. Finally, it took a Narendra Modi to scrap it,” said Madhav. He said the state will soon witness a wave of development and the permanent normalcy will be achieved soon.
BJP state general secretary A N Radhakrishnan presided. Lt-General Sarath Chand, former Vice- Chief of Army Staff spoke. Richard Hay, Rajya Sabha, MP, state secretaries AN Nazeer, Renu Suresh, minority morcha national secretary A V Sabu, district general secretary M N Madhu and Ernakulam assembly constituency president C V Rajagopal attended.