NPP protests attempts of Congress, BJP, NC, PDP to influence Supreme Court over Art 35-A

Saffron brigade is befooling people over sub-judiced article: Harsh


Jammu 04-08-2018:  Appalled at the Congress and the Kashmir centric NC, PDP getting united to issue threats of dire consequences in case the article 35A was tinkered besides BJP making statements to hoodwink the people over the issue which is sub-judice in the Supreme court, a battalion of Panther activists spearheaded by Mr. Harsh Dev Singh Chairman JKNPP and other party leaders staged a vociferous protest demonstration at Exhibition Ground Jammu. The angry protestors accused all the parties of whipping up the emotions to flare up civil unrest in a bid to influence and mount pressure on the judiciary.

Addressing the media, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh said that while the mainstream Congress and the Kashmir based political parties including the NC and PDP had jumped into the fray of ‘competitive separatism’ for towing the line of the secessionists ruling the roost in the valley on the issue of Art 35-A, the BJP had been issuing incongruous statements on different occasions over the sub-judiced article to befool the people of Jammu Pradesh. He said that Gen. Secy Pradesh Congress Committee and MLA from Bandipora had recently issued a statement that abrogation of Art 35-A would lead to Civil War in Kashmir which would not remain restricted to the valley but engulf whole of India. Likewise, one of the NC MLAs had issued a seditious statement of late that if any alteration was made in the said article, then the Indian flag would not be seen in Kashmir. Similarly, Chief Spokesperson of the PDP had warned of dire consequences if Art 35-A was tinkered with. BJP on the other hand had been advocating revocation of the disputed article now which it was defending while in the coalition before parting ways with its ally with the BJP partnered state govt having hired four top most Lawyers of the country to defend it. Its chameleon character had been exposed and its leaders were issuing such statements once again to hoodwink the people, Harsh divulged. “All the mainstream and the valley centric parties were instigating the public over Art 35-A just to reap political benefits and influence the Apex Court’s proceedings which was not healthy for the democracy. This was shocking example of contempt of court”, Harsh rued.

Accusing the BJP government both at the centre and in the State of completely exposed for its hypocrisy, demagoguery and treachery over the issue of serious concern, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh castigated the Saffron party for bartering away the aspirations of the nationalist people of the State for the greed of power. He regretted that the BJP being a coalition partner in the erstwhile State government had earlier filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court supporting the stand of the PDP wherein it described Art 35A as an established law decided by the Supreme Court in the past. “The affidavit of BJP-PDP filed in Supreme Court further sought the dismissal of the petition seeking abrogation of Art 35A, on the ground that the petitioner was trying to re-agitate and upset the settled law accepted and complied with by all. The affidavit of the BJP-PDP coalition further described Art 35A as permanent feature of the constitution”, Harsh divulged. He further accused the BJP of succumbing before the dictates of the secessionist forces operating in the valley who then threatened that any kind of tinkering with the Art 35A would lead to Palestine like situation in Kashmir.

Terming the Article 35A as unconstitutional and void ab initio, Mr. Singh said that it not only deprived the daughters of J&K of their genuine rights but also the West Pak Refugees of their basic rights as citizens despite their successive generations living in the state. He disclosed that by the virtue of the powers derived from the Article 35A, the State Legislature had been empowered under sec 6 of J&K constitution to grant State Subject rights to the people of J&K who migrated to Pakistan from 1947 till 14th May 1954 which could distort the demographic composure of the State. “The political parties should desist from fanning the public emotions on the issue of 35-A which was still under the consideration of the Supreme Court. Let the law take its own course on the issue and decide the fate of the impugned article. The verdict of the court shall be respected and accepted by all”, Harsh concluded.

Prominent among those who spoke on the occasion included Mrs. Kesar Parveen Adv, Rajesh Padgotra, Gagan Partap Singh, Sham Gorkha, Khajoor Singh, K.K Sharma, Nirmal Kishore, Sukhjit Singh, Shankaar Singh Sanju, Rashpaul Singh, Udhayveer Singh, Rohit Sharma, Rakesh Verma, Sansar Chand, Rajesh Sharma, Shaitan Singh besides others.