New Delhi: BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi on Wednesday strongly condemned Congress veteran Saifuddin Soz’s statement, alleging that Soz tried to link statehood for Jammu and Kashmir and restoration of Article 370 to “the extremely dangerous premise” of the Muslim-majority state staying with India on its “own terms”, thus implying sovereignty.
The BJP Rajya Sabha member also sought to know if the Congress party supported Soz’s stand, and, if not, whether any action would be initiated against him.
Trivedi said Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, in his usual style, returns from a suspicious foreign sojourn, and how is it possible that no anti-India statement emerges? The BJP spokesperson posted on the social media platform X, further intensifying his party’s scrutiny of LoP Rahul Gandhi’s recent foreign trip with a fresh salvo.
He wrote that no sooner had LoP Rahul Gandhi returned to India than a highly condemnable anti-India statement came from Congress senior leader, former Union Minister, and former J&K Congress President Saifuddin Soz, linking the two incidents.
Trivedi alleged that Soz said the J&K issue is not merely about statehood or restoration of Article 370, but about “pre-1953 autonomy,” meaning “sovereignty.” He linked it to the extremely dangerous premise of the Muslim-majority state staying with India on its own terms due to its Muslim-majority character.
He sought to know whether the Congress will distance itself, clarify Soz’s remarks as personal views, or adopt a firmer stance on internal autonomy.
Raising a clear question for LoP Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, he asked if it was the official line of the Congress party.
Trivedi added that if not, will the Congress party take action against Saifuddin Soz while clearly denouncing this statement? He contended that if Congress does not initiate proceedings on this remark, it will be assumed that this statement, referring to ‘autonomy’ (i.e., sovereignty) for any state within the country, thereby fragmenting the nation, is the official stance of the Congress party.
Earlier on Wednesday, the senior Congress leader and former Union Minister said that neither the Prime Minister nor the Chief Minister can keep J&K a Union Territory forever, calling it a temporary arrangement. He insisted that the real issue is internal autonomy.
Soz said the people of J&K should fight for the restoration of Article 370, adding that the youth should remember that a Muslim-majority state chose to accede to India, where Hindus were in the majority.
He stressed that Sheikh Sahib considered it appropriate to join India; at that time, there were around eight crore Muslims in India, and today there are many more.
He said they made the right decision to live in India on their own terms.
(IANS)
