Mayawati questions Opposition's attempted visit to Jammu and Kashmir

Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati on Monday lashed out at the Opposition parties' attempted visit to Srinagar after the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir's special status.

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In a series of tweets, Mayawati said: "It is well known that Baba Saheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar was in favour of equality, unity and integrity of the country. Hence, he was not in favour of the separate provision of Article 370 for Jammu and Kashmir. Because of this, BSP had supported its scrapping in the Parliament."

The BSP was among the first to extend support to the Centre's move on August 5 to scrap almost all the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave special status to the state.

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"But after Article 370 came to an end after about 69 years of the implementation of the Constitution, it will take sometime for the situation to become normal there," she said. "It is better to wait a bit, this has also been accepted by the honourable court."

"Under such circumstances, is this step of the leaders of Congress and other parties going to Kashmir without permission not giving the Centre and governor of that state an opportunity to do politics?" Mayawati asked. "It would have been appropriate if it was also taken into consideration before going there."

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Mayawati's comments come two days after a 12-member delegation of Opposition party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi of the Congress, had flown to Srinagar, but were detained and sent back.