The BJP government precipitated uproar in the Parliament and the country on Monday, 5 August, as it moved a Bill to redraw the map of India by bifurcating Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories: Jammu & Kashmir as one and Ladakh as the other. This came as an addition to the revocation of Article 370, which conferred special status to Jammu & Kashmir, through a Presidential Order.
BJP leaders hailed the decision, as did many Opposition parties. Veteran BJP leader LK Advani said this on the move to revoke Article 370:
“I am happy with the Centre’s decision to revoke Article 370 and I believe that it is a bold step towards strengthening national integration.”
His views on revoking Article 370 may have been consistent, as he said, “The scrapping of Article 370 has been a part of BJP's core ideology since the days of Jan Sangh.”
But a quick journey back in time reveals that the BJP stalwart was not a supporter of granting Union Territory status to the state. In fact, he stood in firm opposition to it.
In 2002, when the RSS had demanded a separate Jammu state, a Union Territory status for Ladakh, and the rejection of autonomy for J&K, Advani, who was the Deputy Prime Minister at the time, had said such a move would “weaken India’s case”.
“Any such move will not help and will only weaken India’s case”LK Advani in 2002, on Union Territory status for J&K
According a 2002 report in Times Of India, he had said the government had maintained all along that there would be no division of J&K and that it would continue to focus on integration of the state and its people with the rest of the country.
In another interview to India Today later in 2002, Advani was asked about the difference of opinion with RSS. Then too, he had held his ground, saying, “We feel that Pakistan does not really claim Jammu and Ladakh; their claim is exclusively on the Kashmir Valley. When we say that Jammu and Kashmir is part and parcel of India we are really emphasising the Valley. Though it has a Muslim majority, Jammu and Kashmir is a part of India: this is our stand.”
“If we think in terms of partitioning Jammu or trifurcating the state, we will psychologically be conceding that we do not have any claim on the Kashmir Valley. So it would, wittingly or unwittingly, strengthen Pakistan’s case and, therefore, we are opposed to it. The Jan Sangh was opposed to it and the BJP has been consistently opposed to it.”LK Advani in 2002
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