Rahul Gandhi should apologise to J&K people before Yatra enters UT: BJP

He said Mr. Gandhi should answer why the nation was divided in 1947.

Before his Bharat Jodo Yatra enters Jammu and Kashmir, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the nation, especially the people of the Union territory, for the "sins committed by his family and party" in the region over the last 70 years, the BJP said on Wednesday.

BJP's J&K unit chief Ravinder Raina alleged that the Congress has been sympathetic to parties who supported terrorism and asserted that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has "truly united the country", while the opposition party has done otherwise.

“Gandhi family and Congress have made historic blunders related to Jammu and Kashmir and are directly responsible for the eruption of terrorism which has consumed thousands of lives.”

"Before entering J&K, Gandhi should apologise to the nation, especially people of J&K, over the mistakes and sins of the party which it committed over the past 70 years," Mr. Raina told reporters here.

He referred to the now-scrapped special status under Article 370, the permit system, the exile of the last Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh and the "denying of rights" to various communities including refugees from West Pakistani and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Valmikis, Gorkhas and Paharis.

"The atrocities committed by the Gandhi-led Congress family cannot be forgotten. There is a long list of how they humiliated and jailed the nationalists who campaigned against its wrong policies," he alleged.

He said Mr. Gandhi should also answer why the nation was divided in 1947.