Congress delegation meets UK Labour Party chief Jeremy Corbyn to ‘discuss Kashmir’, BJP calls it appalling

Pic courtesy: Twitter/@jeremycorbyn

The Congress party has landed itself in a soup yet again over Kashmir issue as a delegation of Indian Overseas Congress met Leader of UK’s Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn on Thursday to hold discussions over ‘human rights situation’ in Kashmir.

The issue sparked a political controversy in India after the British leader shared a picture on Twitter that had Kamal Dhaliwal, president of the Indian Overseas Congress UK, Sudhakar Goud, spokesperson of the Indian Overseas Congress UK, and Gurminder Randhawa, secretary of the Indian Overseas Congress UK.

“A very productive meeting with UK representatives from the Indian Congress Party where we discussed the human rights situation in Kashmir. There must be a de-escalation and an end to the cycle of violence and fear which has plagued the region for so long,” Corbyn tweeted.

A very productive meeting with UK representatives from the Indian Congress Party where we discussed the human rights situation in Kashmir.

There must be a de-escalation and an end to the cycle of violence and fear which has plagued the region for so long. pic.twitter.com/wn8DXLohJT — Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) October 9, 2019

The BJP has slammed the Congress for the meeting and called it “appalling”. The BJP said that the Congress must explain to people of India that what its leaders are telling the leaders of other countries about Kashmir. “Appalling! Congress owes it to the people of India to explain what its leaders are telling foreign leaders about India. India will give a befitting reply to Congress for these shameful shenanigans!” BJP said in a tweet.

Appalling! @INCIndia owes it to the people of India to explain what its leaders are telling foreign leaders about India.

India will give a befitting reply to Congress for these shameful shenanigans! https://t.co/Sb0MThF17A — BJP (@BJP4India) October 10, 2019

Meanwhile, Congress Secretary Pranav Jha tried to downplay the whole controversy and said that Kashmir is an integral part of India and this issue is non-negotiable. Jha added that the Congress is trying to find out what happened in that meeting.

It is to be noted that Jammu and Kashmir has been under a partial lockdown since August 5 after the Centre decided to abrogate Article 370, which granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Several leaders in Jammu and Kashmir have been put under house arrest and the Internet and mobile phones have been blocked to maintain law and order in the region.