New Delhi: Already grappling with Shashi Tharoor’s remarks on surgical strikes, the Congress found itself in yet another conundrum Friday over Salman Khurshid’s defence of the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir during his visit to Indonesia as part of a multi-party delegation on Operation Sindoor.
Khurshid, a senior leader of the Congress who has served as a Union minister multiple times, told a gathering of academia and think tanks in Indonesia Thursday that Article 370 of the Constitution had given rise to an impression that J&K was “separate” from the rest of India.
“But Article 370 was abrogated. It was abrogated, and it was finally put to an end, because so much time has passed. Subsequently, there was an election with 65 percent participation in the election. There’s an elected government in Jammu and Kashmir today. And therefore, for people who want to undo everything that has happened, the prosperity that has come to Kashmir is something which is very, very unfortunate, and it will give a setback to anybody,” he said.
Khurshid, who is a member of the delegation headed by JDU MP Sanjay Jha, added that the sole objective of Operation Sindoor was to deliver the message that India will take every possible measure to safeguard its territory which cannot be “broken up”.
“And as you know, your part of the world and all the countries in this neighborhood, nobody can be told, give up a part of your sovereignty, give up a part of your country, give up a part of your family. Kashmir and we are family together.”
He further said: “Nobody can break up the family, nobody can break up our home. That is the only message we are giving and the limited exercise we need to do to ensure that our family remains safe is all we did…we tried to give a message to Pakistan—please don’t do this adventure, you will not succeed.”
After the Centre had revoked the special status of J&K on 5 August 2019, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had in a resolution strongly criticised the Centre’s decision, saying, “Article 370 deserved to be honoured until it was amended strictly in accordance with the Constitution of India.” However, it stopped short of demanding its restoration.
However, the party’s position has evolved since then. In December 2023, after the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the Centre’s 2019 move of stripping J&K of its special status and its downgrading to a Union territory, the Congress said the “debate has ended” on the restoration of Article 370.
“Today, this debate has ended. You are forgetting one thing. The Congress is not a party in any way in these petitions that it will file any review petition. So, this decision is final and there has never been any such agenda or announcement of ours that we will reconsider it,” Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi had told a press conference.
The Congress, however, never hailed the move as one that benefited Jammu and Kashmir. That is why the BJP was quick to seize on Khurshid’s remarks in an attempt to corner the principal opposition party.
“Hope Congress does not designate Salman Khurshid as ‘Super Pravakta’ after he has busted their narrative on 370. He said, ‘Art 370 gave outsiders the impression J&K was separate from India, but its abrogation, high voter turnout & elected govt prove it is integral to India.’ Will Rahul Gandhi admit Art 370 was his family blunder and even Salman Khurshid has now lauded its removal!” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla posted on X.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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