‘Article 370 gave impression that Kashmir was separate from the country’: Congress’ Salman Khurshid 

Congress leader Salman Khurshid, deviating from the party line, said Kashmir’s “major problem” was reflected in the Article 370, which has been abrogated. Congress had vociferously opposed the abrogation of Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Khurshid, part of the all-party delegation, was in Indonesia, where he said that Article 370 somehow gave an impression that Kashmir was separate from the rest of the country. "Kashmir had a major problem for a long time. Much of that was reflected in the thinking of the government in an article called 370 of the Constitution, which somehow gave an impression that it was separate from the rest of the country. But Article 370 was abrogated and it was finally put to an end," he said.

The Congress leader said that Kashmir saw 65 per cent voter participation in its elections. “There's an elected government in Kashmir today and therefore people to want to undo everything that has happened, the prosperity that has come to Kashmir," he said, addressing members of Indonesian think tanks and academia.

“As you know, nobody can be told ‘give up a part of your sovereignty, give up a part of your country, give up a part of your family’. Kashmir and we are family together. Nobody can break up this family, nobody can break up our home – that is the only message we are giving, and the limited exercise we need to do to ensure that our family remains safe is all we did in the four days in which we tried to give a message to Pakistan. ‘Please don’t do this misadventure, you will not succeed’ and I hope that we have been able to give this message,” he said, referring to Operation Sindoor and the subsequent military action between India and Pakistan. 

The former External Affairs Minister is part of the delegation led by JDU MP Sanjay Kumar Jha. This particular delegation is visiting Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore to convey India’s message of non-tolerance for terrorism and a detailed account of the events since the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed the lives of 26 civilians, mostly holidayers.

The Supreme Court had upheld the Modi government’s decision to abrogate Article 370, after which the Congress party conceded and said the debate was hence over. The matter is 'closed' from a constitutional standpoint, the party said.