New Delhi:Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha and former Home Minister P Chidambaram led the Opposition’s tirade against the Centre’s move to scarp Article 370 and bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir. Chidambaram, meanwhile, asked the Centre to explain why the State was bifurcated to scrap Article 370.

The Opposition, however, could not guard its own flock as parties such as AAP and BSP voted in favour of the Bill and the Trinamool Congress abstained from voting. The Opposition won just 65 votes against 125 votes won by the ruling party.

Chidambaram termed the move a “cardinal blunder” and “fatal legal error”. “Momentarily you may think you have scored a victory…drum beats on streets may force you to think that you have corrected a so-called injustice but …future generations will realise what a grave mistake this House is making today,” he said. “I know it was your manifesto promise but in repealing A370 you are unleashing forces which you cannot control,” he added.

He said the overwhelming majority in the State want more autonomy and not cessation from India. “I genuinely fear you are pushing thousands and thousands of young men from this column to 100 others by dismembering the State,” he warned. “Stop, pause, reflect on what you are doing. Don’t dismember Jammu & Kashmir …Don’t do that in the name of people of India.”