J&K's Article 370 scrapped: Congress MPs sought abrogation in 1964 shows old report amid party's internal divide

Even as the Congress party is opposing Centre's move to abrogate Article 370, its MPs as back as in 1964 demanded to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. A paper cutting from September 11, 1964 headlined 'Special status of Kashmir must end, insists MPs' states that several Congress lawmakers supported Prakash Vir Shahtri's private member bill to end special status of Jammu and Kashmir. The report said that a Congress lawmaker K Hanumanthiya appealed to the then Home Minister to accept the bill 'in spirit of democracy'. 

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There has been divide within the Congress on their stand related to abrogation of Article 370. While Congress veteran adn Maharaja Hari Singh's son Karan Singh, has said that there are several positive points and that abrogation of Article 35 A will address the gender discrimination in the state, Ghulam Nabi Azad had accused the Modi govt of running camps for communication blackout and confining the Kashmiris in their houses. 

READ: J&K: Maharaja Hari Singh's son Karan Singh goes against his party- Congress over Article 370's scrapping, Ladakh UT

The Narendra Modi government on August 5 revoked Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Both the upper house and the lower house of the Parliament approved the resolution abrogating Article 370 for J&K and a bill to bifurcate the state into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, with Home Minister Amit Shah saying the controversial provisions were responsible for poverty and lack of development in the state. Ministry of External Affairs also briefed the envoys of the P5 nations -- the US, the UK, China, France and Russia -- about Indian government's decision to scrap Article 370 and bifurcate the state into two union territories.

READ: J&K: After asking if Kashmir is really an internal matter, Congress now compares it to Nazi concentration camp