Vehemently opposing the government's decision to scrap Article 370 which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir and the proposal to bifurcate the state into two union territories, Manish Tewari said: "In the past 70 years, demands have been raised to convert union territories into states. This is probably the first time in history that a state has been converted into a Union Territory. There cannot be a bigger blow to federal structure than this."
The Congress leader also questioned if our northeastern states also awaited a similar future. "You can revoke Article 371 tomorrow by imposing President's rule in the northeastern states. And, using the rights of their assemblies in Parliament, you can scrap Article 371 too? What kind of constitutional precedent are you setting in the country," he asked Home Minister Amit Shah.
Shah retorted by pointing out how different members of the Congress had a different stance on the issue. He then went on to ask Tewari to state clearly whether his party supported this decision.
This is when Tewari responded with an allusion to the bestselling erotic novel. He commented: "There is an English book. Everything is not black and white. There are fifty shades of grey in between. Maybe the Home Minister was thinking something else. He didn't pay attention to what I said." Twitter was awash with people searching and talking about 'Fifty Shades of Grey'.
He went on to clarify that his party was not principally opposed to the move but was against the way in which it was executed by the BJP government.
( With inputs from IANS )