The Congress on Friday demand Article 371 for Jammu and Kashmir along with restoration of statehood.
Addressing a press conference in Jammu, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said several states in India were covered by Article 371.
“Regions like Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and some areas of Assam, some areas of Karnataka-Hyderabad region have special provisions under Article 371,’’ Ramesh said in reply to a question about Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti’s demand for the restoration of Article 370.
Elaborating further, Ramesh said that in states like Nagaland, no act of Parliament would apply in matters relating to religious or social practices of Nagas, Naga customary law and procedure, and ownership and transfer of land and its resources.
Ramesh said Article 370 was not revoked in a democratic way.
“The bill was passed without discussion and dialogue and was passed by a brute majority,’’ he said. “Jammu and Kashmir was a state. It was a full-fledged state. It turned into a Union Territory. We are against it.”
Ramesh ducked the question about the restoration of Article 370.
“You are talking about Article 370 and I am talking about Article 371. Under Article 371, many states of our country and many areas of our country are given special provisions,” he said.
