Omar Abdullah

Srinagar, Dec. 1: Narendra Modi today cited the marriage of Omar Abdullah’s sister Sara with Congress leader Sachin Pilot to criticise Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution.

Modi suggested the special provision denied the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister’s sister several rights, enjoyed by him and others, as she had married an outsider.

“I am raising a serious question. Let somebody tell me does Omar Abdullah’s sister Sara enjoy the same rights as her brother? No, she does not because she has married outside Kashmir. And that is why her rights have been snatched. Laws in J&K discriminate between men and women,” Modi said at a Jammu rally, his first after being named prime ministerial candidate nearly three months ago.

Modi’s remarks drew a sharp rebuttal from Omar, who accused him of “conveniently using me and my sister as examples to illustrate a point that has no bearing in truth”.

Article 370 is dear to Omar and his National Conference, which has often said it had to fight a long battle to retain the provision.

The article denies outsiders several rights such as buying land in the state or voting in Assembly elections.

Women from the state who marry outsiders are entitled to these rights, but not their husbands and children. Omar referred to this in his reaction on Twitter, emphasising that “women DO NOT lose their domicile right by marrying non state subjects”.

But under the article, the wives and children of men in Kashmir who marry outsiders enjoy the rights.

Modi made it clear in his speech that he had criticised the article as he felt it was discriminatory but at the same time favoured a discussion on its larger benefits. “The time has come to discuss whether Article 370 has benefited ordinary people here or not.”

But Omar, who otherwise refrains from discussing his sisters in public, wasn’t amused with the analogy involving his family and said Modi has “very conveniently used me and my sister as examples”.

“Either he (Modi) lies or is ill-informed,” the chief minister tweeted soon after Modi’s speech as he dared the BJP mascot to substantiate his claims on Article 370 in relation to women’s rights.

“I challenge him or any of his minions to reproduce verbatim the section of Art 370 that determines the J&K state subject law,” Omar added.

The chief minister’s rivals also slammed Modi’s comments. People’s Democratic Party (PDP) patron and former Union home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said: “Even Article 1 of the Constitution of India determining the territory of the country applies to J&K by virtue of Article 370 only. Scrap this bridge with rest of the country and the entire gamut of accession and related issues stare in your face.”

Rajnath debate call

BJP chief Rajnath Singh, who also spoke at the rally before Modi, called for a “debate” on the issue. He said his party would accept Article 370 if it was proved it had helped the state develop and eradicate poverty, the stance seen as a climbdown from the BJP’s complete abrogation call earlier.

“The time has come for a debate on Article 370 among you (the people) in Jammu and Kashmir. If Article 370 has benefited in eradicating poverty, unemployment and helped in development, then we will also accept it.

“If it has not benefited then I leave the decision to abrogate this law or not on you,” Rajnath added.

The BJP has so far opposed the special status claiming it is a hurdle to complete integration of the state with the rest of the country.

Rajnath said regardless of the debate on the article that Kashmir was “an integral part of India”. “Kashmir has and will remain an integral part of India.”

Both Rajnath and Modi criticised the Manmohan Singh government for being soft on China and pointed to the Chinese incursions earlier this year. Rajnath said if China continued to give stapled visa to residents of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal, New Delhi should do the same for residents of Tibet.