The votaries of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir were its biggest abusers,” Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday.

“By using the alibi of Article 370 and 35A, both Congress and National Conference had for decades together denied the common man the benefit of Central laws like property rights for women, voting rights to refugees from Pakistan, the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 in order to appease certain sections of society for vote bank,” Dr Singh said at a book release function here.

“The same votaries, however, never felt shy of extending the term of State Assembly to 6 years and refusing to revert back even after the constitution amendment was brought in by the Morarji government, which they refused to extend to J&K citing Art 370 because it ensured their continuance in power,” he added.

Releasing the book “Jammu & Kashmir – a Wounded Paradise” by veteran journalist Padamshri Jawaharlal Koul, Dr Jitendra described it as “a non-political narrative putting the record straight for posterity so as to dissuade biased accounts about the recent history of J&K from creating confusion in the minds of the new generation”.