Unlike Notebandi Nehru Didn't...: Congress Reacts As BJP Blames Nehru For Article 370 In Kashmir

The Congress delivered a sharp response to the BJP after Union Home Minister Amit Shah and PM Narendra Modi blamed Jawaharlal Nehru for issues plaguing Jammu and Kashmir.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday responded to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement blaming Nehru. ( Image Source :PTI )

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party after Union Home Minister Amit Shah blamed India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for creating a "mess" in Jammu and Kashmir by introducing Article 370 in the Constitution.

In a tweet, Congress party's communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh said: "Nehru didn’t dictatorially insert Article 370 in Constitution. It was discussed, unlike notebandi. Patel, Ambedkar & Syama Prasad Mukherjee didn’t object. Ayyangar who had worked in J&K drafted it. Nobody resigned over it. Amit Shah is as much a superspreader of lies as his Saheb."

Amit Shah was on Thursday speaking at an event to flag off the BJP's 'Gaurav Yatra' in Gujarat, where Assembly polls are due in the next two months.

“Due to the mistake of Jawaharlal Nehru, who inserted Article 370, Kashmir was in a mess... it could not be properly integrated with the rest of the country. Everybody wanted the removal of Article 370. Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed it in one stroke and completed integration of Kashmir with the country,” Shah said, as quoted by news agency PTI.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a veiled remark had blamed Nehru for the issues plaguing Jammu and Kashmir for decades.

“Sardar saheb persuaded all the princely states to merge with India. But another person handled this one issue of Kashmir,” PM Modi said in his home state, without naming India’s first prime minister.

“As I am following the footsteps of Sardar saheb, I have values of the land of Sardar and that was the reason I resolved the problem of Kashmir and paid true tributes to Sardar Patel,” he added.

Both remarks made in poll-bound Gujarat come as the BJP is extensively campaigning in the state to retain power while the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party are trying to dislodge the ruling party which has been in power there for over two decades.

(With Agency Inputs)