Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday lashed out at Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Congress over the statement by Pakistan Defence Minister Khwaja Asif on Article 370. The Pakistani minister stoked a row after he said that Congress, National Conference, and Pakistan all are on the same page on revocation of Articles 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir.
Slamming the opposition parties, Shah said the Pakistan minister's statement "makes it clear" that Congress and Pakistan "have the same intentions and agenda". "For the last few years, Rahul Gandhi has been standing with every anti-India force, hurting the sentiments of the countrymen," he said.
"Be it asking for proof of air strikes and surgical strikes or saying objectionable things about the Indian Army, the tune of Rahul Gandhi's Congress Party and Pakistan has always been the same and Congress has always been hand in glove with the anti-national forces," the Union Minister said.
The BJP leader took a dig at Congress and Pakistan saying they forgot that "there is Modi Government at the centre, hence neither Article 370 nor terrorism is going to come back in Kashmir."
Earlier in the day, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah reacted to the statement by saying he is an Indian citizen and not a Pakistani. "What can I say on what Pakistan says, I am not a Pakistani. I am an Indian citizen," he said.
NC leader Omar Abdullah also responded to the row saying: "On Pakistan, let them express their democracy, we are participating in our democracy."