Modi's remarks on Article 370 unacceptable: CPM leader

, Dec 2: CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami today said

's remarks on Article 370 were "unwarranted and unacceptable" and called for the restoration of the "eroded provisions of this article".

"Awami Mutahida Mahaz (recently floated by Tarigami) is of the opinion that remarks made by Narendra Modi seeking abrogation of Article 370 are not only unwarranted but totally unacceptable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir," convenor of AMM, Tarigami said in a statement here.

"We demand that a concrete decision be taken to restore the eroded provisions of this article of faith to its original status in the Constitution," he said. AMM is an amalgam of several mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir.

Tarigami, who is also state secretary of CPI(M), said Modi's speech at a rally in Jammu yesterday was "motivated to scuttle" the constitutional guarantees to Jammu and Kashmir's autonomous position enshrined in the Constitution.

"It is our unalterable opinion that Article 370 of the Constitution should act as a bridge between the Union and the state and the provisions which have been eroded from time-to- time should be restored without any delay. "There should be no further erosion of Article 370 and it should be considered as a permanent feature of the Constitution of India," he said.

Tarigami said Modi has "always been viewed as sharpening communal polarisation" but he would never succeed in dividing the state on the basis of regional or communal calls.

PTI