Article 370 stays unless people want it to go, says BJP candidate

Khanna, meanwhile, told PTI, “The media has given much hype to the Sajjad Lone and Article 370 issues, but Modi’s vision for this country is peace and development.”

A prominent Gurjjar leader, Talib is a former MP from and a former minister who recently left the National Conference to join the BJP, which has fielded him from Rajouri.

Earlier, Dr Hina Bhat, the BJP’s Amira Kadal candidate, said repealing Article 370 that grants the state a special status was not on the party’s agenda, which is focused on peace, progress, security and corruption-free governance.

Should the article be touched, she warned, people in Kashmir would again take to the gun, including herself.

Repeal of Article 370 used to be key on the BJP agenda once. Of late, no BJP leader was bringing this up — until the Congress, the NC and the PDP began to allege that a BJP government if elected would repeal the article, leading to Hina and Talib’s statements in predominantly Muslim areas.