Manish Tewari in Lok Sabha: He said for the first time, a state was being turned into a union territory.
Highlights
- Manish Tewari referred to the bestseller during Article 370 debate
- He was asked by Amit Shah to clarify Congress's stand on Article 370
- Everything not black and white, 50 shades of gray in between: Mr Tewari
The book "Fifty Shades of Grey" featured in parliament today as Congress leader Manish Tewari referenced the erotic bestseller during the debate on the government's decision to end special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and bifurcate the state into two union territories.
Expressing strong opposition to the decisions, Manish Tewari said for the first time, a state was being turned into a union territory.
"In the last 70 years, demands have been raised that union territories be converted into states but this is probably the first time in history that a state has been converted into union territory. There cannot be a bigger blow to federal structure than this," he said.
He also questioned whether northeastern states faced a similar future.
"You can revoke Article 371 tomorrow? By imposing President's rule in the northeastern states, and using the rights of their assemblies in the parliament, you can scrap Article 371 too? What kind of constitutional precedent are you setting in the country," the Congress lawmaker asked Amit Shah.
Amit Shah responded with a dig at the Congress's different voices on Article 370 and asked the lawmaker to clarify whether his party supported or opposed the decisions.
"There is an English book. Everything is not black and white. There are fifty shades of gray in between. Maybe the Home Minister was thinking something else. He didn't pay attention to what I said," Manish Tewari shot back.
"I clearly said that without the permission of the Jammu and Kashmir constituent assembly, you can't scrap Article 370 and if you want to consider the constituent assembly as the state assembly and after imposing President's rule if you want to see the assembly as the Indian parliament... I hope you understand now."
He said the Congress objected to the manner in which the government had pushed its decision.
Fifty shades of grey is a series of erotic novels that became a huge hit in 2011 and was adapted into a movie trilogy.