Cong hits out at Centre over Article 370, RCEP

DEHRADUN: The Congress on Sunday claimed it “diluted and abrogated” Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir 12 times without creating any controversy.

Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesman Pawan Kheda said, “Not once or twice, but the Congress party diluted article 370 as many as 12 times, but without letting any controversy break out.” Kheda said the country’s affairs are run t hrough di al ogue and not through controversies.

He said the Congress understands this fact but “the ruling BJP doesn’t” as its entire politics is founded on controversies.

Kheda said the party’s stand on Article 370 has not changed at all but it is objecting to the way the BJP government annulled it. He also accused the BJP government at the Centre of not implementing the GST properly, saying it has resulted in small businessmen, manufacturers and farmers driven to the verge of ruin. Alleging that the note-ban imposed by the Narendra Modi government had caused the country’s economy to totter, he said a similar note-ban imposed during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as PM had caused no harm to it. “There used to be in circulation in those days ~10,000 notes, which were banned when Mrs Gandhi was the PM but no one had to queue up outside banks nor was there any controversy,” he said.

Expressing concern over the RCEP agreement, Kheda said if India signs the deal it will ruin small farmers, traders and manufacturers. “Even otherwise, Chinese goods, available in India in abundance, are affecting the country’s small traders. Now government wants even milk to be imported,” he said.