Does Congress support a separate flag for J&K? Amit Shah’s 10 questions to Rahul Gandhi on alliance with NC | Mint

Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi 10 questions and sought clarifications on the Congress’ stand on several issues regarding its alliance with Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference. Farooq Abdullah on Thursday announced the Congress-NC alliance for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections 2024.

Amit Shah attacked the Congress and Rahul Gandhi over the alliance and alleged that the Congress had “repeatedly endangered the country’s unity and security to satisfy its lust for power”.

Amit Shah said, “The Congress party, which has repeatedly endangered the country’s unity and security to satisfy its greed for power, has once again exposed its ulterior motives by forming an alliance with the Abdullah family’s ‘National Conference’ in the Jammu and Kashmir elections.”

Amit Shah said the NC-Congress alliance has “exposed the anti-reservation stand of the Congress party.” He on Friday posed 10 questions to Congress and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and demanded that he clarify his party’s stand on several issues.

Here are the 10 questions asked by Amit Shah:

1. Does Congress support National Conference’s promise of a separate flag for Jammu and Kashmir?

2. Do Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party support the JKNC’s decision to restore Articles 370 and 35A and thus push Jammu and Kashmir into an era of unrest and terrorism?

3. Does Congress support promoting separatism again by talking to Pakistan instead of the youth of Kashmir?

4. Does the Congress Party and Rahul Gandhi support the National Conference’s decision to start ‘LoC trade’ with Pakistan, which will boost cross-border terrorism and its ecosystem?

5. Does the Congress support restoring relatives of those involved in terrorism and stone-pelting in government jobs, which will bring back the era of terrorism, militancy and strikes?

6. Does Congress support JKNC’s promise to end reservation for Dalits, Gujjars, Bakarwals and Pahari communities and do injustice to them?

7. Does Congress want ‘Shankaracharya Hill’ to be known as ‘Takht-e-Sulaiman’ and ‘Hari Hill’ to be known as ‘Koh-e-Maran’?

8. Does Congress support the politics of pushing the economy of Jammu and Kashmir into corruption and handing it over to select Pakistan-supported families?

9. Does the Congress Party support JKNC’s politics of discrimination between Jammu and the Valley?

10. Do the Congress Party and Rahul Gandhi support the divisive politics of JKNC of giving autonomy to Kashmir?

In another post on Twitter, Shah said that after forging an alliance with the National Conference, Rahul Gandhi should “now clarify the Congress party’s stand on reservation policy”. He then asked, “Does Rahul Gandhi support the JKNC manifesto which calls for abolition of reservation for Dalits, Gujjars, Bakarwals and Paharis?”

What does NC’s manifesto for Jammu and Kashmir elections say?

There is no clear mention of reservation for Dalits, Gujjars, Bakarwals and Pahari people in the NC manifesto for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.

The manifesto only promises to include reservation for Sikhs in government jobs under SRO 425, similar to the provisions for Kashmiri non-migrant Pandits. “This will ensure proper employment opportunities and help in their socio-economic upliftment,” the manifesto says.

It said the National Conference would support the reservation of two seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly – one for each region, Jammu and Kashmir – to ensure adequate representation for the Sikh community.

The NC further promises that “Article 370-35A will be restored and statehood will be restored to its pre-August 5, 2019 position.” “In this interim period, we will try to redraft the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 and the Rules for Functioning of the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, 2019,” the NC manifesto said.

Before the abolition of Article 370 in August 2019, the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) had its own flag and constitution.

The Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections will be held in three phases – on September 18, September 25 and October 1. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced that the results of both the assembly elections will be declared on October 4.