'Let Jammu and Kashmir go to hell...': Farooq Abdullah on SC verdict on Article 370

New Delhi, Dec 12: National Conference chief and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah, when questioned about the Supreme Court's verdict on the abrogation of Article 370, said that Jammu and Kashmir should "go to hell."

"Let Jammu and Kashmir go to hell...They betrayed people. They want to win people's hearts. How'd you win that if you'd do such things to push people farther away?" Abdullah said on Tuesday while talking to reporters.

Coming out in defence of Jawahar Lal Nehru after the BJP blamed the country's first prime minister for decades of violence and instability in Jammu and Kashmir and the special constitutional privileges for the erstwhile state under Article 370, NC stalwart and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday claimed that the former was in the US when the special provision was brought.

Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, the former Jammu and Kashmir CM claimed then Union Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and saffron ideologue and Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee were involved in the process of according special constitutional privileges to the erstwhile state.

"I don't know why they (BJP) have so much venom against (Pandit Jawaharlal) Nehru. Nehru is not the one responsible (for providing special status to J-K under Article 370). When this article (370) was brought, Sardar Patel was here (in Parliament) and Pandit Nehru was in America. When the cabinet meeting (on the imposition of the special constitutional provision) took place, Syama Prasad Mukherjee was also party to it. It was at this meeting that the decision was taken," the NC stalwart said.

Abdullah said he was hopeful that the Supreme Court would direct the Centre to conduct immediate elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

The apex court, while upholding the revocation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir in a landmark ruling on Monday, set a deadline of September next year for the Centre to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and hold elections there.

"We want immediate elections to take place in Kashmir but the Supreme Court gave them time till September. Where's the justice?" he said.

Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah targeted former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and blamed him for Pakistan's illegal occupation of a portion of Kashmir, known as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Shah was speaking in the Rajya Sabha during a discussion on the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

Also, in Lok Sabha last week, Shah said that Nehru made two big mistakes due to which Kashmir had to suffer for many years.