New Delhi/Jammu, Sep 19 (PTI) Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday latched on to Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif's remarks on the restoration of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir to hit out at the Congress, accusing it of speaking the neighbouring country's language.
Shah said on X that Asif's statement in support of Article 370, which gave the erstwhile state special rights, and Article 35A, has proved that the neighbouring country and the Congress have the "same intentions and agenda".
Article 35A gave special rights and privileges to its "permanent residents".
Several BJP leaders posted Asif's remarks to a Pakistani channel that his country shared the view of the Congress-NC alliance that Article 370, which along with Article 35A, was scrapped in August 2019, should be restored.
BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh, who is in charge of the party's affairs in Jammu and Kashmir, claimed the opposition alliance is running a Pakistani agenda in the ongoing polls.
Ram Madhav, one of the two BJP election in-charges for the polls, said on X while sharing Asif's reported comments, "A clear challenge to people of J&K. NC-Congress alliance is 'on the same page' with Pakistan, declares Pak Defence Minister Khwaja Asif.
"People will teach a big lesson to this treasonous alliance in the elections. J&K will stand with those who stand with Hindustan, not those 'on the same page' with Pakistan," he said.
The NC, in its manifesto, has pledged support to restoring Article 370, while the Congress has maintained silence on the contentious issue.
Shah said the Pakistan defence minister's statement has once "again exposed" the opposition party.
He claimed that the tune of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi's party and Pakistan has always been the same and the Congress has always been "hand in glove with the anti-national forces".
"Pakistan defence minister's statement about the Congress and the JKNC's support on Article 370 and 35A has once again exposed the Congress. This statement has once again made it clear that the Congress and Pakistan have the same intentions and agenda.
"For the last few years, Rahul Gandhi has been standing with every anti-India force, hurting the sentiments of the countrymen," Shah wrote on X in Hindi.
The home minister said be it asking for proof of air strikes and surgical strikes against Pakistan or saying "objectionable things" about the Indian Army, the tune of the Congress Party and Pakistan has always been the same.
The Congress has always been "hand in glove with the anti-national forces", he asserted.
"But, the Congress party and Pakistan forget that there is Modi government at the Centre, hence neither Article 370 nor terrorism is going to come back in Kashmir," he said.
Pakistan Defence Minister Asif has said that the Shehbaz Sharif government and the Congress-National Conference alliance in Jammu and Kashmir were on the same page on the issue of restoration of Article 370.
"They (the alliance) have made it an election issue. Pakistan and the National Conference-Congress alliance are on the same page in Jammu and Kashmir to restore Article 370 and 35A," Asif was quoted as saying in an interview.
Khawaja's comments have come amid the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections that are being held for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A five years ago.
On August 5, 2019, these two provisions of the Constitution were abrogated by the Narendra Modi government and the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Chugh accused the Congress-National Conference alliance of allegedly running the neighbouring country's agenda in the polls.
He said it was now clear that the Congress-NC alliance was working at the behest of the Pakistani government. The intention of Pakistan to interfere in the elections has been exposed as well, he added.
It has been a key agenda of the Abdullah and Gandhi families to keep the situation unstable in Jammu and Kashmir, he charged.
Talking to reporters in Jammu, Chugh said, "The statement by Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif clearly shows that Rahul Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah are speaking Pakistan's language".
"Asif's statement, indicating that Pakistan, NC, and the Congress are on the same page, exposes their separatist rhetoric. It is about breaking the country, releasing terrorists from jail, renaming Shankaracharya and Hari Parbat, and changing reservations for SCs, STs, and OBCs. This is the dictation that the Gandhis and Abdullahs are receiving from Pakistan," he charged.
Lashing out at the Gandhis and Abdullahs, Chugh blamed them for the death, destruction, and turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir.
"Rahul Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah are dancing to Pakistan's tunes. They are promoting and carrying forward Pakistan's agenda in Jammu and Kashmir. Both parties are puppets of Pakistan," he claimed.
Expressing confidence in the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Chugh said they would not succumb to Pakistan's agenda.
"The nationalist people of Jammu and Kashmir will not allow the implementation of Pakistan's agenda through the Gandhis and Abdullahs. The restoration of Article 370 will remain a mere dream for them," he added.
Chugh also emphasised that as long as the BJP is in power, Article 370 will never be reinstated.
"Modi ji's government has freed Jammu and Kashmir from the clutches of Article 370 and 35A. Jammu and Kashmir will never be chained again," he asserted.
Asif's remarks came amid the ongoing assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the first since the abrogation of the state's special status by the Narendra Modi-led government in 2019.