Status quo on Article 370 will be maintained: MJ Akbar

Patna: Allaying fears regarding its stand on Article 370, which guarantees a special constitutional status to Jammu and Kashmir, BJP on Monday said “status quo on it will be maintained”. [caption id=“attachment_2261820” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] M J Akbar. AFP[/caption] “The status quo on Article 370 will be maintained. ….This is a constitutional matter and any kind of change in it cannot be brought in the Parliament,” BJP’s national spokesperson M J Akbar told reporters in Patna. Akbar said this while responding to a question on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stand on Article 370 in the light of recent statements by some BJP leaders that it will be abrogated when the party gets two-third majority in the Parliament, during a media workshop for state spokespersons of his party. The journalist and author-turned-politician also sought to portray that the Modi government was for economic development and welfare of the minority community without any discrimination as part of his “sabka saath, sabka vikas” (development for all) philosophy on governance. “The biggest problem faced by the minority community was that innocent youths were picked up, arrested and held in custody for long periods without their involvement in any incident” (previously), he alleged. “No such incident has occurred in the last one year since Modi government has come,” he added. Akbar further alleged there had been days of harassment of people belonging to the minority community, vendetta and discrimination, which were like an “epidemic” during the Congress rule and claimed all these were over now. “Our Prime Minister wants justice, economic prosperity, education for the minorities. The Centre has launched a special, innovative, technology-driven programme for weavers, of which a majority are from the minority community,” he added. Speaking of upcoming Bihar Assembly polls, the BJP national spokesperson said given the track record of performance of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, “We can announce that the Bihar elections will be a direct fight between ‘jungleraj’ (rule of jungle) versus ‘mangalraj (rule of welfare).” “Earlier the word ‘jungleraj’ was associated with RJD President Lalu Prasad. Sadly, now it has become attached to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also. The elections will see a sea of people coming in support of BJP,” he added. Meanwhile, referring to the paddy purchase scam in Bihar and CBI’s refusal to probe it, fuelling speculations that the Centre and the state were in cahoots on the matter, Akbar said, “The CBI could not have taken it without the recommendation of the state government. “Had it done so, the Centre would have been accused of using the CBI against the state government.” The BJP leader said truth was with the party and no amount of propaganda by anybody including the Congress would sully BJP’s image. He also claimed that the Modi government has instilled a new thinking, new philosophy and a new hope in the country in one year of its rule and referred to several initiatives launched by the Centre including ‘Jan Dhan Yojana’, ‘Make in India’ and insurance scheme for the common people. PTI