Congress party 'hand in glove' with anti-national forces: Union Home Minister Amit Shah

File Pic/PTI

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday alleged that the Pakistan Defence Minister's statement regarding the Congress and the National Conference supporting Article 370 and 35A has "exposed" the opposition party, PTI reported.

Shah also claimed that Congress has always been "hand in glove with the anti-national forces".

He said the statement of Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif proved that the neighbouring country and the Congress have the "same intentions and agenda".

"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 senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said that the Congress asking for proof of air and surgical strikes against Pakistan or saying "objectionable things" about the Indian Army has being the proof that the two are on the same page.

"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 added.

The reaction by Shah came in response to a statement by the Pakistan Defence Minister who said that the Congress-National Conference alliance in Jammu and Kashmir were on the same page on the issue of restoration of Article 370 as the Shehbaz Sharif government, reported PTI.

"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.

According to PTI, Khawaja's comments came amid the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections that are being held for the first time since the removal of Article 370 and Article 35A on August 2019.

Article 370 gave special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir while Article 35A gave special rights and privileges to its "permanent residents".

When these two provisions were abrogated by the BJP government in 2019, the state was divided into two Union Territories: Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh.