Srinagar, April 9: Veteran Congress leader and former union minister, professor Saif-ud-Din Soz Tuesday asserted that Jammu and Kashmir being a Muslim majority state cannot be the part of “Hindu Rashtra”.
The Congressman went on to suggest all mainstream and separatist groups to stand united against assault on the special status of the state by a particular ideology.
“Since attempts are on to convert secular India into a Hindu Rashtra, Jammu and Kashmir being a Muslim majority state cannot be the part of such nation. It’s the centre that invites all separatist and mainstream groups on single platform and I think it would be the darkest part of Modi’s era,” said Soz addressing a press conference at Kashmir Press Club here.
Soz while cautioning BJP led central government to desist from fiddling with Article 370 and 35A said the accession of Jammu and Kashmir with Union of India is ‘conditional’ which naturally ends once these constitutional laws are repealed.
He appealed the people to be united against the nefarious designs of BJP which he alleged make attempts to destroy special status of the state.
“People must understand that Article 370 and 35A is a privilege and any attempt aimed at to abrogate these laws needs to be assailed therefore I appeal people to be united for a cause,” he added.
Pitching for internal autonomy of the state, the Congress leader said least government of India can do for Kashmir is to restore autonomy which he said would be the first step of any nation to achieve its goal.
He also advocated for the decisive dialogue to settle the issue of Jammu and Kashmir once and for all.
“If India really wants to repeal Article 370 and 35A then first step towards it would be to settle the issue by inviting all stakeholders including JRL to dialogue table,” Soz asserted.
Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly devaluing human values he said Modi being ‘uneducated’ cannot understand human values at all.
“Modi is uneducated and it’s useless to expect anything positive from him as he cannot understand human values,” he added.
