BJP slams Chidambaram’s comment on Kashmir

New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) The BJP on Monday termed as "unfortunate" the comments of senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram who is reported to have said that had Kashmir been a Hindu majority state, the BJP wouldn't have revoked Article 370.

Speaking to reporters here, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "The statement made by him (Chidambaram) is irresponsible and it is made to provoke people."

He said a number of people have been killed in Kashmir in the last 70 years.

Firing salvos at the Congress leader, Prasad said, "Is it not true that Faiyaz Khan was kidnapped and killed, is it not true that Aurangzeb who was a brave soldier was killed by terrorists? What is Chidambaram talking about?"

He was referring to Lt Ummer Fayaz, a young Army officer from Kashmir, who was kidnapped and killed by militants when he had gone to attend a wedding in Shopian district in 2017, and to the killing of Rifleman Aurangzeb, who was abducted and killed by terrorists in Pulwama in 2018 when he was home on leave.

Prasad said: "This step (to revoke Article 370) is taken for the benefit of all Kashmirirs because under the name of Article 370, Muslims of Kashmir were also suffering and facing injustice."

The BJP leader also said that the decision to abrogate Article 370 was in favour of the development of people of Jammu and Kashmir and people of India.

On Sunday, addressing an event in Chennai, Chidambaram reportedly said that the BJP government revoked Article 370 as it was a Muslim majority state, and "had there been a Hindu majority in Kashmir, BJP wouldn't have touched it (Article 370)."