Srinagar: Farooq Abdullah, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, on Thursday asked how Jammu and Kashmir ever made progress if the abrogated Article 370 was bad.
Abdulla was responding to PM Modi’s allegation, made during his first visit to Srinagar since scrapping Article 370, that Congress and its allies misled people in the name of Article 370.
PM Modi called the region ‘new Jammu and Kashmir ’attributing it to the scrapping of the former state's special status.
‘For decades, for political gains, Congress and its allies misled people in the name of Article 370. But today there are equal rights and opportunities for all. The people know the truth... they were misled... This is the new Jammu and Kashmir for which we all were waiting,’ PM Modi was quoted as saying.
The three-time Chief Minister of the erstwhile state asked PM Modi to listen to former Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad’s speech in Rajya Sabha where he compared Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir in terms of progress when Article 370 was in force.
‘Now, if Article 370 and nepotism are responsible, then how did we make that progress? It is the people's rule, I lost the election as a chief minister. So, where is the dynastic rule?’ Abdullah reportedly asked.
The former Chief Minister alleged that scrapping of Article 370 turned education expensive, adding that education from primary level to universities was free.
‘Today, education is only free up to the 14th class. In the universities, you have to pay now. An honest commission has to be put to see what was there before the revoke of Article 370 and what was is thereafter,’ Abdullah was quoted as saying.