"Congress never considered Jammu and Kashmir a part of India": Shehzad Poonawalla

New Delhi [India], April 7 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Sunday said that Congress has never considered Jammu and Kashmir as a part of India after Mallikarjun Kharge, while targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public rally, mistakenly mentioned the scrapping of Article 370 as 'Article 371'.
"It is shameful that Kharge Ji does not know that the article that was abrogated was 370, not 371. This is not a slip of the tongue. These people always kept Jammu and Kashmir isolated. They (Congress) never considered Jammu and Kashmir as a part of India. These people are saying that Kashmir should not be discussed in Rajasthan. Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India," Poonawalla told ANI.
Earlier, Amit Shah shared a video on his X account on Saturday in which Mallikarjun Kharge said, "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."
Amit Shah added that "such blunders made by Congress have haunted our nation for decades now".
Shah also slammed Congress over its National President Kharge's remark in a rally and said that it is mostly the "Italian culture" of the Congress party that is to blame for not understanding the very idea of India.
Responding to Amit Shah remarks, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has claimed that Home Minister Amit Shah got "agitated" as Mallikarjun Kharge inadvertently "exposed the Modi-Shah gameplan" to change Article 371 related to Nagaland.
"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," Ramesh said in a post on X.
Ramesh emphasised that, while Kharge's slip may have caused confusion, the focus should be on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who "indeed wants to change" various articles.
"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 added in his tweet. (ANI)