New Delhi, July 16 (IANS) The NDA leaders on Thursday lashed out at Congress veteran Saifuddin Soz over his statement regarding Jammu and Kashmir, accusing him of “batting for Pakistan’s perilous agenda”.

A day earlier, 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.

Responding to it, BJP National Spokesperson, C.R. Kesavan said: “Senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz, by preposterously demanding the restoration of Article 370, is clearly batting for Pakistan’s perilous agenda and is peddling Pakistan’s pernicious propaganda.”

“The Congress leader’s anti-national remarks — the timing of these…is it a mere coincidence? These anti-national remarks by the Congress leader come just a day after Rahul Gandhi returned from his secret foreign trip abroad, and these remarks have been made at a time when the Parliament session is about to commence,” he told IANS.

According to JD(U) national spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan, the INDIA bloc “is not divided only over the question of leadership, but rather its constituent parties also have different priorities on key issues”.

“Statements like these highlight the unease and deep divisions within the alliance. The Janata Dal(United) was initially opposed to the abrogation of Article 370. However, after the NDA government implemented its strategy for the development of Jammu and Kashmir, the region has witnessed significant progress,” he said.

Hindu seer Mahamandaleshwar Vishnu Das held LoP and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi responsible for the “irresponsible statements” of his party leaders.

“Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi spends more time abroad than in India. He loves spending time abroad. He should counsel his own party leaders instead of allowing them to make such statements. Some Congress leaders say that Article 370 should be restored. Such leaders should not live in India. Rahul Gandhi does not make his leaders understand. They make irresponsible statements and support Muslims with the intention of harming Hindus. They dream of turning India into an Islamic nation,” he told IANS.

BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi also strongly condemned Saifuddin Soz’s statement on Wednesday, 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.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Surendra Rajput hit back at the BJP, saying, “If BJP leaders have become mentally disturbed, there is no treatment for that. Linking Rahul Gandhi to every statement made by an individual reflects their intellectual bankruptcy and ideological poverty. The issue of Article 370 is before the court, and whatever verdict the court delivers will be acceptable to everyone.”

–IANS

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