Senior Congress leader and former MP Tariq Hameed Karra Sunday said that attempts erosion of Article 370 and 35A are the “sinister designs” of RSS and the BJP by taking judicial route.
Karra said that he filed the application in Supreme Court to defend the Article 35 A and has “all backing and assurance” from Congress party high command.
“The application has been accepted by the Supreme Court. Filing application to contest the petition of Article 35 A was call of my conscience and other factors like PDP’s failure and a sinister design which I am seeing between the BJP and the PDP as a match-fixing. I got in touch with the high command of the Congress. They not only approved my going as a party, they also encouraged me and assured me of all backing and assistance in this,” Karra, as per KNS correspondent, told reporters in a press conference at his residence in Shivpora here.
Karra, through his counsel advocate Ashok Mathur, filed an application in SC to implead himself as a private party or interventionist in the petition against Article 35A filed by a woman in the court for its abrogation.
“RSS and the BJP have the sinister and nefarious designs of eroding Article 35A and the special status of Jammu and Kashmir by taking an indirect judicial route and taking a public posture of not being involved directly. By adopting this method, they are planning to sell tomorrow the fulfilling of their promise to the electorate of abrogating Article 35A and 370 and at the same time creating a room for PDP to say that this was done by the court and not by the BJP,” he said.
Lashing out at PDP, of which he was one of the founding members, Karra said that PDP has bartered the honour and distinct identity with the lure of power.
“Had it not been so, why couldn’t the PDP convince or force its alliance partner to file its objections in the Supreme Court with regard to Article 35A? When they did not, do they have the moral right to continue in the government? Therefore, to my understanding they are playing a fixed match just to address their respective constituencies to become martyrs in the eyes of the people.
“I would like to assure the people of JK that we have a very strong case historically, legally and constitutionally. J-K is not the only state which is enjoying special rights under the Constitution of India. Entire northeast and Goa do enjoy special rights under Article 371, but I don’t know why those Articles are not being challenged. Why are they not being treated as unconstitutional and why only Article 370 seems to be unconstitutional,” he asked.
He asked that if Article 35A goes, then are they (Centre) ready to do away with all those presidential orders since 1950.
“Then in that case, J-K under the Constitution of India can only be governed by Article 1 and Article 370. Only these two will determine the connection between J-K and the Union of India. Article 35A is our minimum right and a part of bargain with Indian Union. We will not tolerate any attempt to fiddle with it,” he said. (KNS)