Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has slammed the Congress party and former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru blaming them to be the root cause of Jammu and Kashmir problems.

In a special party meeting, after being unanimously re-elected as the BSP President on Wednesday, Mayawati reiterated her stand on the abrogation of Article 370. Supporting the Centre in its decision the BSP chief lambasted at the Congress party saying, “Had the Congress Party completed the work of ending Article 370 during the long period of its rule, today the conditions in Jammu and Kashmir would have been better.” She said Nehru and the Congress are the only ones to be blamed for Jammu and Kashmir’s present situation.

When Pakistan first invaded the then independent princely state of Kashmir in Oct 1947, the Maharaja Hari Singh signed the instrument of accession to India in return for help from the Indian Army. The Indian Army quickly recovered two-thirds of Kashmir. However, Jawaharlal Nehru requested the UN to intervene and broker a peace as early as Jan 1, 1948, when the Army was still in the thick of operations. The UN brokered a ‘ceasefire’. Since that day, Kashmir has remained an open wound.

Earlier too, Mayawati had, slammed the Congress and opposition parties over their attempted visit to Kashmir. Criticising their intention behind the visit Mayawati stated that the opposition leaders should rather have waited and given the government some time to normalise the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

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It is notable here that Mayawati was one of the prominent regional leaders along with others like the leaders of BJD, BSP, AAP, YSRCP, TDP and AIADMK, who had supported the government’s decision regarding Article 370 despite being a part of the opposition.