Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced today, in Rajya Sabha, that Article 370 would be revoked for Jammu & Kashmir, and it will now be treated as a Union Territory under legislature.
His announcement was met with uproar in Rajya Sabha and left Twitter divided as well. However, even prior to the announcement, the situation in Kashmir has been extremely tense for a few days.
In fact, prominent political leaders, Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah, and Sajad Lone, were also placed under house arrest.
In response to Amit Shah’s announcement, the leaders have released their statements regarding the abrogation of Article 370.
Omar Abdullah, Vice-President of National Conference and former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, stated that the decision to scrap Article 370 was ‘unilateral, illegal, and unconstitutional’.
The scrapping of Articles 370 and 35A raise fundamental questions on the State’s accession because that was done on the very terms enunciated in these articles. The decisions are unilateral, illegal, and unconstitutional and will be challenged as such by the National Conference.
In a series of tweets, President of the Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, and former CM Mehbooba Mufti called this the ‘ darkest day in Indian democracy’.
She also tweeted that there would be ‘catastrophic consequences’ to this decision.
Sajad Lone, President Peoples Conference, is yet to release an official statement on the issue.