Centre trampled spirit of Constitution by abrogating Article 370: Manish Tewari

Congress MP and former Union minister Manish Tewari on Sunday blamed the Centre for setting a dangerous precedent by revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and dividing it into two Union Territories thereby "trampling the very spirit of our Constitution".

The Congress leader was speaking on the third and concluding day of the Military Literature Festival here on the topic 'Article 370 and the Death-Knell of Terrorism'.

"We are a Union of states and what has been done by bifurcating Jammu and Kashmir is the most obnoxious move entailing serious repercussions for our Constituion and polity," he said here.

Tewari said the abrogation of Article 370 was wrong as it subverted all norms of due processes enshrined in the Constitution as he went on to accuse the Centre of alienating mainstream Kashmiri leaders.

"You abrogated Article 370 but what happens to the Constitution of J&K? Kashmir has a Constitution which was brought into effect by a sovereign constituent body elected by