‘Exposed Modi-Shah game plan’: Congress on Kharge’s ‘slip of tongue’ on Article 370

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday claimed that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge inadvertently exposed the “Modi-Shah game plan” of wanting to change Article 371 of the Indian Constitution.

Kharge stirred up controversy by mistakenly mentioning Article 371 while talking about the abrogation of Article 370. Union home minister Amit Shah was quick to seize upon the mistake and said such blunders by Congress have “haunted our nation for decades now.”

Clarifying Kharge’s statement, Ramesh said it was a “slip of tongue” and the Congress president “clearly meant Article 370”.

“Amit Shah immediately pounced on the Congress President. But the truth is that Modi does indeed want to change Article 371-A relating to Nagaland, Article 371-B relating to Assam, Article 371-C relating to Manipur, Article 371-F relating to Sikkim, Article 371-G relating to Mizoram, and Article 371-H relating to Arunachal Pradesh,” Ramesh claimed.

“Incidentally, Kharge ji was the man singularly responsible for Article 371-J relating to the erstwhile Hyderabad-Karnataka region – which he got accomplished only after Dr. Manmohan Singh became PM,” he added.

“Amit Shah got all excited and agitated because Khargeji inadvertently exposed the Modi-Shah gameplan on Article 371; now that they have gotten Article 370 out of the way,” the Congress general secretary said.

Amit Shah shared a video on his X account on Saturday in which Mallikarjun Kharge, during a public rally in Jaipur, was heard saying, “They (the BJP) are coming here and saying that they removed 371. What does it have to do with the people here? It’s okay if you go and speak about that in Jammu and Kashmir.”

Reacting to Kharge’s remarks, Shah said, “For the kind information of the Congress, it was not Article 371, but Article 370, that was abrogated by the Modi government. However, it is only expected of Congress to make such horrendous mistakes. Such blunders made by it have haunted our nation for decades now,” Shah added.