 "Article 370 is BJP's agenda, not NDA's: Gadkari")
Amid controversy over the Bharatiya Janata Party raking up Article 370 during the Lok Sabha polls, its former president Nitin Gadkari on Saturday clarified that it was an old issue for the party that was included in the BJP manifesto and not in that of the National Democratic Alliance.
“Article 370 has been on our agenda and the BJP will take a decision over it when it comes to power on its own,” Gadkari said during an interaction in Bihar.
Gadkari, who is member of the BJP Parliamentary Board, said like in the past it was not on the agenda of the NDA, but of the BJP.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and other Janata Dal (United) leaders were on their feet as soon as the BJP manifesto with focus on these controversial issues was released.
Hitting hard at his old ally, Kumar had said “this justified his party walking out of the alliance with the BJP”.
The Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and other parties used the issue to intensify their criticism of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Facing criticism of being a communal party, Gadkari said: “Congress, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar are poisoning the environment by incessantly talking about casteism and communalism. These are multi-communal parties out to destroy the nation.”
Elaborating the meaning of ‘multi-communal’, Gadkari, flanked by Bihar’s former deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav, said the term denoted the “last degree of communalism” applied to something that was “100 per cent communal”.
“Article 370 has been on our agenda and the BJP will take a decision over it when it comes to power on its own,” Gadkari said during an interaction in Bihar.
Gadkari, who is member of the BJP Parliamentary Board, said like in the past it was not on the agenda of the NDA, but of the BJP.
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Inclusion of Article 370, which provides special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the Ram temple at Ayodhya and the Uniform Civil Code in the BJP manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections has triggered widespread criticism from rival parties.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and other Janata Dal (United) leaders were on their feet as soon as the BJP manifesto with focus on these controversial issues was released.
Hitting hard at his old ally, Kumar had said “this justified his party walking out of the alliance with the BJP”.
The Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and other parties used the issue to intensify their criticism of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Facing criticism of being a communal party, Gadkari said: “Congress, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar are poisoning the environment by incessantly talking about casteism and communalism. These are multi-communal parties out to destroy the nation.”
Elaborating the meaning of ‘multi-communal’, Gadkari, flanked by Bihar’s former deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav, said the term denoted the “last degree of communalism” applied to something that was “100 per cent communal”.