New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir stayed with India because Mahatma Gandhi said it was a country for all, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said on Thursday as he, joined by several other opposition leaders, demanded early holding of assembly elections in the Union territory.
At an event held in the national capital on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the veteran leader stressed that Article 370 was a temporary article because a plebiscite was supposed to happen in Jammu and Kashmir, which was never held.
The event was attended by Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, former Jammu and Kashmir MLA Yusuf Tarigami, Kargil politician Sajjad Hussain Kargili, DMK MP Kanimozhi, NCP’s Supriya Sule, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and RJD MP Manoj Jha, who endorsed the demand for polls to be held at the earliest.
Last assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held in November-December 2014, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Peoples Democratic Party formed a government together. The alliance fell apart in June 2018 and President’s rule was imposed. Subsequently in August 2019, the Centre abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated the state into Union territories — Jammu and Kashmir (with a legislature) and Ladakh.
Abdullah said, “The tragedy of Jammu and Kashmir is that from the time India got independence and two dominions were created, (Pakistan’s founder M A) Jinnah thought Kashmir was in his pocket. He didn’t realise it’s not….” “Many say Article 370 was a temporary thing…. You must realise it was so because a plebiscite had to decide which dominion we had to go to,” the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir said.
“You have to realise a Muslim majority state decided to remain in a Hindu majority India. We could have gone to Pakistan, what brought us here was Gandhi and his utterance that this nation is for all,” he said, adding that communal division is on the rise in the country. “Kashmir never asked for independence, we are part of this nation,” he said, adding that it has been in turmoil since independence.

  Kashmir 370

Press Trust of India