The Narendra Modi government’s move to end special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and turn the state into two Union Territories redrawing the map, has left the Congress party a divided house. Senior party leaders have admitted in their media interactions that they were outfoxed by the Modi government over Article 370 and its special relation with Jammu and Kashmir.
Congress’s premier leader Rahul Gandhi has not made a statement on the issue but a walkout from the Lok Sabha led by Sonia Gandhi does not signal unanimity among the party leaders on the issue.
First among the senior party leaders to sound a voice of difference was Janardan Dwivedi, the Congress veteran and a Gandhi family loyalist. He quoted former socialist stalwart Ram Manohar Lohia to support the government’s move on Article 370.
“My mentor Ram Manohar Lohia was against Article 370 from the start…My personal view is that this is a matter of national satisfaction. A mistake made during independence has been corrected, even if belatedly,” Janardhan Dwivedi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI on Monday.
This was in sharp contrast to the vehement opposition and sharp attack by Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal on the government. The leaders had dubbed the move to end special status to Jammu and Kashmir through a Presidential Order “murder of democracy” in the Rajya Sabha.
Congress leader Deepender Hooda, the son of former Haryanaa Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and considered a member of Team Rahul, tweeted, “My personal view is that there isn’t a need to have Article 370 in the 21st century.”
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