Bihar: Lashing out at “Muslim intellectuals” opposing the abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain on Thursday asserted that the now-abolished Article 35A was “against Islam”. The article prevented residents of other parts of the country from buying property in Jammu & Kashmir.
Hussain told this while addressing a press conference in Motihari, Bihar. Alleging that the abrogated constitutional provision stripped a woman of rights over ancestral property in the event of her marrying a man from outside Jammu and Kashmir, he claimed it was “against the Shariah”.
India Today quoted BJP national spokesman as saying “There are many Muslim intellectuals who are opposing the Narendra Modi government’s action in Jammu and Kashmir – making it a Hindu versus Muslim issue. I want to pose a question to them – do they think that Article 35A was in accordance with the Sharia law.”
The former Union minister said while the Article was in violation of the right to equality guaranteed by the Constitution, it was against Islam and the Sharia as well. He maintained that as per the Sharia law, a girl child cannot be deprived of her rights over the property she inherits from her parents. But Article 35 A made even that conditional. He asked Muslim intellectuals to introspect on this issue.
Shahnawaz Husain also defended Union minister Amit Shah’s assertion that the National Register for Citizens would be introduced throughout the country. Asking “what problem do people have with that?. he argued “No country in the world tolerates people crossing its borders illegally. We cannot be expected to allow illegal immigration in India.”