Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday termed Modi government's decision to scrap Article 370 as an assault on democratic values of the nation.

"It an assault on the Constitution, on the inclusive idea of India, on the spirit of cooperative federalism, democratic practices, and on the individual liberties of our citizens from the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Therefore, it is an attack on our democratic values," Tharoor said while addressing Lok Sabha.

Demanding an explanation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the House, Shashi Tharoor said that the decision of scrapping Article 370 was the political equivalent of demonetisation. "We all remember that the last time when the PM unleashed a shock decision on the nation, which was also initially applauded for its decisiveness, just like today and that was the disaster of demonetisation. The nation is still dealing with the devastating consequences of that action. I fear we have the political equivalent of demonetisation, where the short- and mid-term damage will outweigh the theoretical long-term benefits."

The Congress MP claimed that the short-term damage has already hit tourism, which will suffer from the chaos and security alerts resulting from the decision.

Shashi Tharoor argued that by detaining the democratic leaders, the government as encouraged undemocratic actors.

"We are facing a situation where they (non-state actors) can cite a new injustice for them to fight. You have made the mainstream pro-India parties irrelevant and powerless to fight extremist," Tharoor said.

Shashi Tharoor claimed that by abolishing parts of Article 370 the government has changed the basic constitutional relation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to the Republic of India without consulting them or their elected representatives. This is a breathtaking betrayal of our democracy and nothing short of legislative authoritarianism.

The Congress MP said that the government did not treat the parliament as a forum to seek advice but rather as a notice board. "The government might as well put up decisions it has made on a notice board," he said.

The Thiruvananthapuram MP requested the home minister to allow an all-party delegation to visit Jammu and Kashmir to review the ground situation.