New Delhi: CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that the nullification of Article 370 is an attempt to change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir, which is the only Muslim majority State in India. He told this while speaking at a press conference on Thursday, called to release a booklet prepared by his party.
The booklet which traces the history of Jammu and Kashmir and the accession story aims at dispelling what it claimed a “misinformation” campaign and “obfuscation” of facts by the government on Jammu and Kashmir.
As reported by the Hindu, Sitaram Yechury accused government of spreading misinformation to “ensure converting a secular democratic India into the RSS’s vision of a Hindu Rashtra. That is the fascistic project.”
Yechury maintained that to achieve RSS’ vision, it was necessary for them to change the demography of Kashmir. He added “It is the only Muslim majority State in India. To change its demographic detail is the original objective of removing Article 370.”
Claiming that the way it had been done had set a dangerous precedent, Yechury informed that according to Article 3, the boundaries of a State could not be altered without the concurrence of the Assembly. He asserted that withdrawal from the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, dissolving the Assembly and imposing President’s rule so as to use the Governor as a proxy for an elected government, were all parts of the bigger plan.
Alleging that the RSS was trying to conceal facts of its own role, Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat pointed out “Syama Prasad Mukherjee was a member of the Nehru Cabinet and was party to every decision taken on Article 370.” She recalled that when the people of Kashmir across religions were united against the feudal bondage of the Maharaja, it was the Praja Parishad, which was a front of the RSS that backed the Maharaja.