india

Updated: Aug 07, 2019 22:14 IST

Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president MK Stalin on Wednesday jointly hit out at the Union government, saying, that it had failed to hear the voices of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, before withdrawing Articles 370 and 35A.

The Trinamool Congress chief and the Dravidian party leader made these remarks in Chennai while unveiling a bronze statue of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, on his first death anniversary, in the office of DMK mouthpiece Murasoli, in Chennai.

After the statue unveiling ceremony, leaders including Stalin, Mamata Banerjee and Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy jointly addressed a public meeting at Royappettah, Chennai. National Conference party chief Farooq Abdullah was also one of the invitees, but he did not attend the ceremony. The veteran Kashmiri leader had on Tuesday claimed that he had been put under house arrest.

While delivering her speech, Mamata was critical of the union government for not taking the people of Jammu and Kashmir into confidence before withdrawing the special status.

“National Conference Party leader Farooq Abdullah was supposed to share the dais with us here. However, he is not in a position to attend the event. The nation is really concerned. Any party can take any decision. But, before taking a call, they should consult with concerned people who will be impacted by the decision. If the Union Government wants to take a decision on Tamil Nadu, it should ask TN people first. If the Centre decides something against Bengal, it should talk to us prior to that. In the same way, they should have heard the Kashmiris before withdrawing the special status,” Mamata said at the public meeting.

“The federal structure, state autonomy and regional languages are under threat now. Although I am an Indian citizen, I have my own language, my own state and culture. So why should we allow others to determine our identity?” she added.

Stalin also concurred with Mamata saying that the Union government should have taken the opinion of the elected representatives of Kashmir.

“DMK is clear on the Kashmir issue. We want an election to be conducted in Kashmir. After the elections, the Union government should have heard the elected representatives’ versions on withdrawing the special status. As the Union government has unilaterally taken this decision, we are opposing it,” Stalin said.

He further slammed the people, who had called DMK an anti-national for objecting to the Union government’s decision of scrapping Article 370 in Kashmir.

“Since we are objecting to the Union government’s decision on the Kashmir issue, several people are questioning our patriotism. I urge such people to look back at the history of our party. Even when we had some internal demands in the past, our party founder, CN Annadurai, left those demands when China entered into a war with our nation. So, it is unnecessary to question our faith and patriotism towards India. DMK does not need to take lessons about patriotism from anyone,” Stalin added.

Puducherry’s CM Narayanasamy pointed out that running an elected government is a harder thing in a Union Territory.

“While we are demanding statehood for Puducherry, the Union government is cancelling the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir. We have been facing several issues due to the Lieutenant Governor. It is hard for a UT to implement public welfare schemes. So, Jammu and Kashmir will also face these troubles since Article 370 has been withdrawn and now the state has been turned into a UT,” he said.