Shashi Tharoor criticises 'constitutional sleight of hand' in Jammu and Kashmir, month after abrogation of Article 370

One month after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress shared a video of the party’s senior leader Shashi Tharoor criticising the BJP’s “unconstitutional actions” in the state. In the video, Tharoor recounted how Kashmir witnessed a communication blackout since 5 August, when the Parliament defanged Article 370 and also passed the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill 2019, bifurcating the state into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Lok Sabha MP, Shri @ShashiTharoor talks about the BJP govt's unconstitutional actions in J&K. #1MonthOfJnKSuffering pic.twitter.com/thYKiRV8o9

— Congress (@INCIndia) September 5, 2019

On the day of the announcement, several separatists, as well as political leaders in Kashmir, were either detained or put under house arrest and all communications were suspended. Tharoor also criticised the detention of politicians and activists, shutting down of schools and colleges and snapping of telephone and internet connections. “When will Kashmiri parents be able to drop their children to school without worrying about getting a call to inform them something has gone wrong?” Tharoor asked. Tharoor added that a month after the “Constitutional sleight of hand” by the government, journalists on the ground in Jammu and Kashmir have reported that there is “not much indication of improvement”. Further expressing distress about how Article 370 was revoked in the state, Tharoor said that what has been done to Kashmir today can be done to any part of India tomorrow. “The Centre changed the status of the state while its legislature was suspended. Governor appointed by the Centre decided that what the Centre wanted to do was okay. The issue was taken to the Parliament where the BJP is in majority, where only four Kashmiri MPs were there, of whom one was under house arrest in Srinagar,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP explained the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Speaking about the Centre’s move of abrogating Article 370, Tharoor had earlier said, “What is going on in Kashmir is a travesty of our democracy. You have subverted the spirit of the Constitution.”