National Conference (NC) president and Member of Parliament from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah said on Saturday that annulling Article 370 and Article 35-A will be tantamount to a constitutional coup.
“Article 370 is essential and unassailable until a final resolution is reached. Yes, the Article was deemed to be temporary until the issue of the State was resolved. However, the issue is still lingering; therefore Article 370 will continue to remain in force,” said Dr. Abdullah in a speech in north Kashmir’s Handwara.
He said the accession of the State took place in unusual circumstances. “The Maharaja who was rather vacillating then did not want to accede to any of the two dominions. He wanted the erstwhile state to remain free. Keeping in view the special circumstances, Article 370 was added to the Constitution of India,” he said.
Dr. Abdullah said the uneducated rants of those who wanted to obliterate Article 370 were far-fetched, fanciful and devoid of any genuineness.
He warned that if Article 35-A was annulled, “then all the successive presidential orders will get annulled automatically.”
“The need of the hour is to make people aware of the consequences of repealing Article 370 and Article 35-A,” he added.
Published - July 21, 2019 01:06 am IST
