Opposition’s visit to Kashmir will benefit BJP: Mayawati

New Delhi, Aug 26 (IANS) Slamming the Congress-led opposition for going to Jammu and Kashmir, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Monday said the leaders should have thought before making the visit as it will give a chance for the BJP to politicise the issue.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said B.R. Ambedkar had always been in favour of equality, unity and integrity of the country.

"He was not in favour of the provision of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. Because of this, the BSP supported the axing of Article 370."

She said it took 69 years to remove the Article after the Constitution came into force.

"It will take some time for things to become normal in the state. We should wait for some time for the situation to improve. The court also believes so."

Mayawati said in a situation like this, the visit of the opposition leaders will give a chance for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "to do politics".

"In such a situation, will not the visit of Congress and other party leaders to the state without permission give a chance to the BJP and Jammu and Kashmir Governor to politicise the issue? Before visiting, these things should have been thought over," she added.

A delegation of 12 opposition leaders led by former Congress President Rahul Gandhi was on August 24 stopped at the Srinagar airport and sent back to Delhi.

The delegation, which wanted to visit the Kashmir Valley to study the situation, included D. Raja (CPI), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and K.C. Venugopal (Congress), Sharad Yadav (LJD), Dinesh Trivedi (TMC), Tiruchi Siva (DMK), Majeed Memon (NCP), Manoj Jha (RJD) and D. Kupendra Reddy (JD-S).

The Valley has been placed under a security lockdown since August 5 when Article 370 was abrogated and Jammu and Kashmir was split into two Union Territories.