Key Points
Jammu: Staring down from towering billboards across Jammu, Union Home Minister Amit Shah poses a set of questions to the Congress over its alliance partner National Conferences (NCs) promise to restore Articles 370 and 35A...
Do Rahul Gandhi and the Congress support the JKNCs decision to restore Article 370 and Article 35A, and thereby push Jammu and Kashmir back into an era of unrest and terrorism? asks one of the many billboards put up by the BJP...
The underlying message is clear: In Jammu division, where Hindus outnumber the Muslims, the BJP has tailored its poll pitch to arouse the sentiments of a constituency that had cheered the set of moves piloted by Shah in August 2019, stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its special status under Articles 370 and 35A for its complete integration with India...
The BJP formed a coalition government with sworn rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), broke the alliance in 2018, imposed Presidents Rule in Jammu and Kashmir, revoked its special status in August 2019, and carried out a delimitation of seats, resulting in the addition of six seats in Jammu division and one in Kashmir...
The book India Since Independence, authored by historians Bipan Chandra, Mridula Mukherjee and Aditya Mukherjee, highlights the role of the Praja Parishad Party behind the birth of a powerful movement in the Jammu region against Article 370, for the full accession of Jammu and Kashmir into India, a greater share for Jammu in government services and even for separation of Jammu from Kashmir...
