JAMMU, Sept 19: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday latched on to Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s remarks on the restoration of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir to hit out at the Cong ress, accusing it of speaking the neighbouring country’s language.
Shah said on X that Asif’s statement in support of Article 370, which gave the erstwhile State special rights, and Article 35A, has proved that the neighbouring country and the Congress have the “same intentions and agenda”.
Shah said the Pakistan Defence Minister’s statement has once “again exposed” the opposition party.
He claimed that the tune of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s party and Pakistan has always been the same and the Congress has always been “hand in glove with the anti-national forces”.
“Pakistan Defence Minister’s statement about the Congress and the JKNC’s support on Article 370 and 35A has once again exposed the Congress. This statement has once again made it clear that the Congress and Pakistan have the same intentions and agenda.
“For the last few years, Rahul Gandhi has been standing with every anti-India force, hurting the sentiments of the countrymen,” Shah wrote on X in Hindi.
The Home Minister said be it asking for proof of air strikes and surgical strikes against Pakistan or saying “objectionable things” about the Indian Army, the tune of the Congress Party and Pakistan has always been the same.
The Congress has always been “hand in glove with the anti-national forces”, he asserted.
“But, the Congress party and Pakistan forget that there is Modi Government at the Centre, hence neither Article 370 nor terrorism is going to come back in Kashmir,” he said.
Pakistan Defence Minister Asif has said that the Shehbaz Sharif Government and the Congress-National Conference alliance in Jammu and Kashmir were on the same page on the issue of restoration of Article 370.
“They (the alliance) have made it an election issue. Pakistan and the National Conference-Congress alliance are on the same page in Jammu and Kashmir to restore Article 370 and 35A,” Asif was quoted as saying in an interview.
Khawaja’s comments have come amid the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections that are being held for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A five years ago.
Meanwhile, Amit Shah stated that impressive voter turnout in Jammu and Kashmir showed the people’s strong trust in democracy, peace and progress fostered under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Shah congratulated the Election Commission of India, security forces, local administration and the people of Jammu and Kashmir for making the assembly election truly a festival of democracy.
“Jammu and Kashmir, where elections were once marked by fear and violence, held the first phase of the assembly polls peacefully yesterday. Voter turnout stood at an impressive 61.11 per cent, showing the people’s strong trust in democracy, peace, and progress, fostered under the leadership of PM Shri @narendramodi Ji,” Shah wrote on X. (Daily Excelsior)
