Misleading narratives being propagated by Modi govt to justify Article 370 abrogation: Tarigami

Srinagar: Senior leader of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami has said that misleading narratives are persistently being propagated by Narendra Modi-led Indian government to justify its action of abrogation of Article 370, which granted special status to occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami was referring to the statement of India-installed Lt Governor of occupied Kashmir Manoj Sinha that implementation of Anand Marriage Act to Jammu and Kashmir became possible only because of the abrogation of Article 370. He said there has been a long list of amendments made to Article 370, allowing the application of India’s laws to Jammu and Kashmir.

Tarigami said the passage of GST in 2017 by the so-called Assembly of the occupied territory was one of such instances in recent times.

He said there were 42 constitutional (Application to J&K) orders extending the scope of Delhi’s intervention which were not envisaged at the time of the adoption of Article 370. Additionally, the extent of the misuse of Article 370 to encroach the territory’s power can be seen from one of the measures taken in July 1986, he said.

The Indian President, he said, had issued an order in 1986 under Article 370, extending Article 249 of the Constitution to the territory, which empowered the Indian Parliament to legislate on matters in the state list based on a resolution from the Rajya Sabha. He said it received approval from India-appointed Governor, Jagmohan. He added that such overriding of the state list is unique to occupied Kashmir and isn’t applicable to Indian states.