Union home minister Amit Shah described the Gupkar alliance in Jammu and Kashmir as a “global gathbandhan against national interest” in a tweet on Tuesday.
Now that seven parties have come together in the erstwhile state, including Congress, Amit Shah said that by supporting the restoration of Article 370 in the Union Territory, the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) wanted to take away the rights of Dalits, women and tribals.
“The Gupkar gang is going global! They want foreign forces to intervene in Jammu and Kashmir. The Gupkar gang also insults India’s tricolour. Do Sonia ji and Rahul ji support such moves of the Gupkar gang? They should make their stand crystal clear to the people of India,” Shah tweeted.
Shah obviously was hinting at China whose support was being elicited by the PAGD for restoration of Article 370. Former chief minister and PDP leder Mehbooba Mufti had said that she would unfurl the national flag in J and K only when the previous state’s flag is restored.
The PAGD, an alliance of seven parties, will jointly contest against the BJP in the upcoming district development council (DDC) elections in the UT.
Training his guns at the alliance, Shah said, “Congress and Gupkar gang want to take J&K back to the era of terror and turmoil. They want to take away rights of Dalits, women and tribals that we have ensured by removing Article 370. This is why they’re being rejected by people everywhere.”
In a separate tweet, he said J&K has been, is, and will always remain an integral part of India. “…Indian people will no longer tolerate any unholy ‘global gathbandhan’ against our national interest. Either the Gupkar Gang swims along with the national mood or else the people will sink it,” Shah tweeted.
Reacting to Shah’s tweets, Mufti tweeted, “Old habits die hard. Earlier BJPs narrative was that the tukde tukde gang threatened India’s sovereignty & they are now using ‘Gupkar Gang’ euphemism to project us as anti-nationals. Irony died a million deaths since its BJP itself that violates the constitution day in & day out.”
This was also the day when Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also asked Congress to clarify its position on restoration of Article 370. He reminded everyone that Article 370 barred women who married non-state subject holders from passing on their ancestral property to children.
“The laws against sexual exploitation of children, prohibition of manual scavenging, reservation in jobs and educational institutions for the scheduled castes and tribes were not implemented in J&K earlier,” he said.
