Former Union Minister Kapil Sibal, who belongs to the Congress party, has raised a storm by saying that the Brexit example must be followed with respect to deciding the status of Kashmir. He was arguing against the dilution of Article 370 by the Narendra Modi government in the Supreme Court.
Sibal said that diluting the special status of Kashmir was a "unilateral executive decision". His contention is that the opinion of the people of J&K was not sought through a referendum before the NDA government rendered the controversial Article ineffective.
Critics are of the view that Sibal has adopted the line that Pakistan has espoused for decades. "Sibal is articulating a view (referendum) that is closer to the Pakistan view than any mainstream Indian view," wrote columnist Somnath Mukherjee. "An ex-Minister and lawyer doesn’t consider Kashmir as an integral part of India. These people used to be our leaders," wrote Monica Verma, a research scholar.
