TMC opposed to J-K Reorganisation Bill due to procedural lapses: Mamata

TMC opposed to J-K Reorganisation Bill due to procedural lapses: Mamata
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Kolkata: TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the government of not following the procedural method for abrogation of provisions of Article 370 and said it was "not democratic" because the stakeholders in Kashmir were not consulted.

Speaking on the issue for the first time after the government moved the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019, she also demanded the release of the state's former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.

"I don't agree with the procedural method of the bill. I am not talking of the merits of the bill. My party has taken a strong decision. We cannot support this bill," Banerjee told reporters here before leaving for Chennai for the inauguration of DMK patriarch Karunanidhi's statue.

"We cannot vote for this bill because if we vote it will be recorded that we have ultimately, directly or indirectly, accepted it. Constitutionally, legally and technically it is not democratic," she said.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) had staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, opposing the resolution revoking the provisions of Article 370 in the northern state and a bill to bifurcate it into two Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Banerjee said the TMC's walkout did not mean that it supported the bill.

The Rajya Sabha had on Monday adopted two resolutions for abrogating the provisions of the article and passed the bill to reorganise the state.

The bill, along with a resolution for revoking provisions of Article 370, was moved by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Banerjee, also the West Bengal chief minister, who is one of the most strident critics of the ruling BJP, said the Centre could have discussed the matter at an all-party meeting, which could even have been convened in Kashmir.

"We were willing to go there (Kashmir), we could have even talked to the people there... Nothing is permanent for anybody. But sometimes if a permanent decision is to be taken, we have to take everybody into confidence," she said.

Banerjee said she had no news about veteran leader Farooq Abdullah since Monday except for what she had learnt from the media.

She appealed to the Centre to release Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah and other political leaders, who were arrested on Monday night after a brief house arrest.

"They are not terrorists," she said.

The people of Kashmir should not feel that they are isolated but that they are "very much one with the country", the chief minister said.

"We cannot isolate any community or leader on the basis of caste or creed or religion," she added.

Stressing on the need to build confidence among the people in Jammu and Kashmir, Banerjee said, "We must restore the peace. We want a peaceful negotiation and a peaceful solution.