No proposal to scrap Article 370, says govt in LS

There is no proposal for scrapping Article 370, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, under the government's consideration, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir made the assertion while replying to a written question from BJP MP Ashwini Kumar. "There is currently no such proposal under consideration of the government," Ahir said. Kumar had asked whether the government was committed to scrapping Article 370 of the Constitution. 

It can be recalled, last year, J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti after meeting PM Modi said that he has given "100 per cent assurance" to the PDP-BJP government's Agenda of Alliance which says there will be "no fiddling" with Article 370. Mehbooba met the prime minister amid reports that she was seeking help against attempts to alter constitutional provisions that give special status to the state.

Emerging from a 15-minute meeting, Mehbooba said the basis of the Agenda of Alliance between the PDP and the BJP is that there should be no "fiddling" with the status quo on Article 370. "That is the basis of the agenda and no one can go against it. The response of the prime minister is positive. The prime minister gave 100 per cent assurance to the Agenda of Alliance," she told reporters.

The meeting came in the backdrop of the debate on Article 35A of the Constitution that grants special status to the state and is being challenged in the Supreme Court. The chief minister said she had told the prime minister about the difficult situation in Jammu and Kashmir and also that the situation was improving gradually. "People of Jammu and Kashmir feel that their identity will be in danger. A message should go that there is no such thing," she said.