To this end, Sonia Gandhi, sitting on his left, looked at him gaping in bewilderment. She then looked at her son, Rahul Gandhi who tended to agree with her shocked and surprised mother.
Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was in for a little embarrassment and some major missing at the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Embarrassment, because Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, appeared to suggest that Jammu and Kashmir was not an internal matter.
And missing... Well! Had Mallikarjun Kharge been there, Sonia Gandhi would not need to be so amused and visibly bemused.
It so happened that Chowdhury, during a debate in the Lok Sabha over revoking of Article 370, said, "I don't think you are thinking about PoK, you violated all rules and converted a state into a union territory overnight."
When Home Minister Amit Shah said there was "absolutely no doubt over it, and there is no legal dispute" on Kashmir being an integral part of India, Chowdhury blurted lines he would have to regret all his life.
"I have a doubt. Because you say that it is an internal matter. You have bifurcated a state. My point is, from 1948 Kashmir is being monitored by the UN, is that an internal matter? We signed the Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration, was that an internal matter or bilateral? (Foreign Minister) S Jaishankar told his US Counterpart Mike Pompeo it is a bilateral issue, don't interfere. Can Jammu and Kashmir still be an internal matter after that? You should explain," he said.
To this end, Sonia Gandhi, sitting on his left, looked at him gaping in bewilderment. She then looked at her son, Rahul Gandhi who tended to agree with her shocked and surprised mother.
Chowdhury's words were met with chants of "shame" from the BJP benches.
Sonia Gandhi looked mortified.
Shah, in his response, said: "Aggressive hone ki baat kartey ho? Aap bol rahe ho PoK Kashmir ka hissa nahin hai? Jaan de denge isskey liye!"
The United Nations in 1949 deputed a group of UN Military Observers to Kashmir for supervision of the ceasefire between the two countries that have gone to war several times since Independence. India has opposed UN's operations in Kashmir saying that the Kashmir issue is a matter that will be resolved between India and Pakistan.
The Rajya Sabha on Monday had approved the resolution abrogating Article 370 for Jammu and Kashmir and the Bill, which strips Jammu and Kashmir's status of a state and converts it into a Union Territory with legislature and carving out Ladakh region as a UT without legislature.
Sources from the party have, meanwhile, said Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are not too pleased with Chowdhury.
