‘BJP’s Vote-Cutter Man’: Jairam Ramesh Assaults Ghulam Nabi Azaad | Information

Awantipora (Kashmir), Jan 28 (PTI) Senior Congress chief Jairam Ramesh on Saturday stated he by no means thought former social gathering chief Ghulam Nabi Azad would become a “Mir Jafar” and alleged that he had been propped up by the BJP to chop the Congress’ votes in Jammu and Kashmir.

Talking with PTI, whereas strolling within the Bharat Jodo Yatra that’s in its ultimate leg in Kashmir and is ready to conclude on January 31, Ramesh stated crucial factor proper now could be that Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood be restored and elections be held in addition to bringing in Ladakh underneath Schedule VI of the Structure in order that it’s ruled by elected representatives and never bureaucrats.

He listed Democratic Azad Get together (DAP) chief and former Congress chief Ghulam Nabi Azad as a part of BJP’s plan to divide votes with others within the checklist being All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Asaduddin Owaisi and the Aam Admi Get together (AAP).

“His going from the Congress was a part of a Modi-Shah game-plan to chop votes. There are three vote-cutters in India ? Asaduddin Owaisi put up by the BJP, AAP put up by the BJP and Azad put up in J-Ok to chop Congress’ votes. I don’t assume it’s going to occur,” Ramesh stated.

On whether or not Azad would dent the Congress’ prospects along with his DAP, Ramesh identified that almost all Congress staff and leaders who left with Azad have returned to the social gathering fold.

Requested if Azad can ever make a comeback into the Congress like a few of his newly shaped social gathering colleagues have, Ramesh stated, “I don’t know what Mr. Azad’s plans are. I by no means imagined in my wildest goals that he would truly abandon the Congress. It’s the social gathering that gave him id for nearly 50 years, gave him each conceivable place within the social gathering and within the authorities, together with chief minister, Union minister, Chief of Opposition, however I by no means thought he could be Mir Jafar, by no means.”

Mir Jafar served because the commander of the Bengal military underneath Siraj ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, and betrayed him in the course of the Battle of Plassey, paving the best way for British rule in India.

Admitting that he was by no means an in depth affiliate of Azad, the Congress common secretary stated he nonetheless “can’t reconcile with the way of his leaving, the letter that he wrote diminished him within the eyes of each Congress particular person, notably after getting all the advantages from the Congress within the final 50 years.”

Requested how he sees the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s particular standing and its affect, Ramesh pointed to the Congress decision of August 6, 2019, and stated the social gathering desires restoration of the democratic course of, restoration of full-statehood and Ladakh to get its Schedule VI standing within the Structure and never be a Union Territory ruled by bureaucrats getting orders from New Delhi.

“So it’s a lengthy drawn out course of. However I do need to say that one mustn’t neglect that the Indian Structure has Article 371 A-J, which has particular provisions for Nagaland, Sikkim, Goa Arunachal Pradesh, elements of Assam. Certainly, Article 371 has particular provisions for elements of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. So those that criticise Article 370 also needs to have a look at Article 371,” Ramesh stated.

In 2019, Article 370, which granted particular standing to Jammu and Kashmir, was abrogated and the erstwhile state was bifurcated into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The Congress common secretary alleged that the claims of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir are “largely exaggerated as a result of focused killings are persevering with, not solely in Kashmir but in addition in Jammu, Poonch Rajouri, and throughout J&Ok”.

The figures of funding or financial growth are solely “paper figures”, Ramesh alleged.

“The underlying sentiment of resentment, now that resentment isn’t just in Kashmir, that resentment can also be in Jammu which I’ve found and likewise in different elements notably on issues associated to land. As a result of the most important worry whether or not you’re dwelling in Jammu or in Kashmir, is of lands, jobs,” he stated.

There should be some particular provision for shielding the land and job rights of individuals in Jammu and Kashmir which Article 370 did in a method, Ramesh added.

“Crucial factor is to make J&Ok a full-fledged state, have elections right here and produce Ladakh underneath Schedule VI. Distinction between schedule VI and a UT (Union Territory) is that elected representatives handle affairs underneath Schedule VI and in UT, a joint secretary within the ministry of house affairs runs the UT,” he stated.

Ramesh’s remarks come days after a number of DAP’s founding members returned to the Congress fold.

Azad had snapped ties with the Congress final yr after an over five-decade affiliation with the social gathering and written a protracted resignation letter, slamming the social gathering’s prime management.

(The above article is sourced from information company PTI. Zeenews.com has made no editorial adjustments to the article. Information company PTI is solely answerable for the contents of the article)