New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday said the money collected for the progress of Jammu and Kashmir goes inside the lockers of a limited section of society instead of the common man, due to corruption.
"We are an open democracy. So, we have the right to discuss each and every issue openly and talk about its benefits or losses to the people of Kashmir, then why is the Congress having a problem with it," asked Naqvi.
"Can Omar or Farooq Abdullah or the people of the Congress answer as to why hasn`t the Food Security Bill, the Panchayat Raj, right to employment or even the Delimitation Bill which has been applied to all parts of the country, not been applied in Jammu and Kashmir?" he asked.
Communist Party of India (CPI) leader A Raja said the issue of Article 370 is being raised with political interests is mind.
"The timing of the raising the issue of Article 370 during the elections itself raises several questions about the honesty that comes along with it. There is an element of hypocrisy with the BJP. Why are they raising the issue at the time of elections? They could have raised the issue earlier as well. It is being raised on purpose with political intentions," claimed Raja.
Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Naresh Agarwal said this was not the time to raise such an issue.
"It is the time to focus on the country, and not on such issues. Samajwadi Party does not think and support a discussion on this subject at this point of time. Neither are we in favour of scrapping Article 370," said Agarwal.
"I think Modi keeps raising new issues all the time for no reason. Article 370 is an old issue and there is no point tampering with it at this point of time," said Union Minster and Congress leader Rajeev Shukla.
Modi had said in his `Lalkar` rally in Jammu on Sunday that there should be a thorough debate on the issue of Article 370, which gives special and autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. He also made a reference to India`s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, saying: "Nehru had said that in the future, the importance of Article 370 will fade out,"
Criticising the Congress, he said: "The Congress has sown the seeds of a `separate state but the BJP Government will transform Jammu and Kashmir into one of the super states of the country."
