NEW DELHI: On August 5, in the Rajya Sabha , the Congress opposed the abrogation of Article 370 granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The party also opposed the bill in the Lok Sabha the next day. However, in an earlier debate in the Lok Sabha, the Congress had wholeheartedly supported abrogation of Article 370.On September 11, 1964, the independent MP from Bijnor, Prakash Vir Shastri, had brought a private member’s bill to amend the Constitution for abrogation of Article370. Twelve Lok Sabha members spoke in the four-hour debate on Article 370, and among those seven were Congress MPs.During the debate, all seven Congress MPs supported the removal of Article 370 and urged the then government to pass the bill or assure the House that this would be done by another bill in a time-bound manner.Inder J Malhotra, the Congress nominated MP from Jammu and Kashmir, was the second speaker after Shastri to speak on the bill. “I would request the Hon’ble home minister that this bill should not be opposed. If he is not ready at this time to accept it, he can give an assurance that in the next Parliament session or after six months the government would move the bill and remove the Article 370,” he said while concluding his speech.Two more nominated Congress MPs from Jammu and Kashmir, Sham Lal Saraf and Gopal Dutt Mengi, also spoke in favour of the bill introduced by Shastri. Till 1967, when the election happened for the first time for MPs from Jammu and Kashmir, the state used to get nominated MPs.K Hanumanthaiya, Congress MP from Bangalore City, said in his speech: “Not merely MPs from Kashmir but irrespective of the parties, from the extreme left to the extreme right of this House, as it is constituted, we are all of one opinion that this bill should be made into law. To go against it or to say anything against this unanimous opinion of the House is to disown constitutional responsibility in a convenient manner.”Other speakers from Congress were Ramsahai Pandey, MP from Guna; Bhagwat Jha Azad, MP from Bhagalpur; and Gurdaspur MP, DC Sharma.Sharma, who spoke last, made a strong case for removal of Article 370, referring to it as a big mountain between India and Jammu and Kashmir. “It is a big mountain which stands between Indian and Jammu and Kashmir. I feel this mountain should be blasted with dynamite of goodwill, firmness and decision,” he said.The left parties, which opposed the bill last week, had also supported the bill in the 1964 debate. The CPI MP from Rasra, Sarjoo Pandey, too supported the bill brought by Shastri in his speech during the private member’s bill debate.Among the notable speakers in the debate was Farrukhabad MP from Samyukta Socialist Party, Ram Manohar Lohia, who advocated formation of a joint confederation of India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute.