Seven years ago Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir was read down and done away with and the region was converted to two Union Territory-J & K and Ladakh. The BJP had then said that this would fully integrate the state into the country and that it would bring peace.

“Article 370 was there from the 1950s. And there was no terrorism in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, until things changed and Pakistan got an opportunity. So, to say that Article 370 has anything to do with the terrorism and separatism, I don't think the fact support that,” said Salman Soz, economist and national spokesperson of the Congress.

In a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia, Soz said Article 370 was “in the vanguard” of the Constitutional spirit of decentralisation, of reflecting the local sensibilities of the people. “This was the only Muslim-majority state in the ...