The National Conference said that Farooq Abdullah was highlighting the anger of the people because of the abrogation of Article 370 last year

The National Conference (NC) has rubbished reports that its patron Farooq Abdullah said that Article 370 of the Constitution will be restored in the Kashmir Valley with China’s help. Abdullah made the remarks during a television interview.

The NC said that its leader’s comments were twisted. It said that Abdullah never justified the expansionist or aggressive intention, what is being claimed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Our patron was highlighting the anger of the people because of the abrogation of Article 370 last year. He has been doing that the past month. He said that nobody is ready to accept these changes in Jammu and Kashmir,” a spokesperson of the NC said, according to Hindustan Times’ Hindi language publication Hindustan.

“Our leader never said that Article 370 will be restored with the help of China, which was claimed by BJP leader Shambit Patra at a press conference. He also presented some earlier statements of Mr Farooq Abdullah in a wrong manner,” Hindustan further quoted the spokesperson as saying.

Abdullah said in a television interview on Sunday he wished that with China’s support, Article 370 of the Constitution, which conferred special status on Jammu and Kashmir, will be restored.

In the interview, Abdullah noted that China was not happy with the nullification of Article 370, which was scrapped in August last year by Parliament.

“As far as China is concerned, I didn’t bring {the} Chinese president here. Our Prime Minister invited him to Gujarat and even did Jhoola Sawari with him. He [PM Modi] even took him to Chennai and had food with him,” he had said.

The former chief minister of J&K said that China “never accepted” the nullification of Article 370. “They said till you restore Article 370, we won’t stop because it has now become an open issue,” he said.

“May Allah wish that our people get help from their might and our Articles 370 and 35-A get restored,” Abdullah said.

The BJP termed the comments “seditious”. “It is saddening as well as worrying. A sitting MP is using such words for the country. He thinks that China’s aggression is because abrogation of Article 370 has happened. He categorically states that since Indian Parliament abrogated Article 370, China is disturbed and that is why China’s aggression is justified. He seems to justify the expansionist tendencies of China,” BJP leader Sambit Patra said on Monday.