Khattar stokes controversy with his Kashmiri girls remark

Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar said after the abrogation of Article 370, Kashmiri women can be taken to other states for marriage.

Chandigarh:Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has stoked a controversy saying that after the abrogation of Article 370, girls can be brought from Kashmir, apparently for marriage.

"Our minister O P Dhankhar used to say that he will bring 'bahu' (daughter-in-law) from Bihar. Nowadays people are saying that path to Kashmir has been cleared. Now we will bring girls from Kashmir," he said at an event here on Friday.

A few days ago, a BJP MLA from Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh had also made similar remarks, saying that party workers were excited over the scrapping of Article 370 as it would now enable them to marry 'gori' (fair) Kashmiri girls.

Under the now-scrapped Article 35 A of the Constitution, a woman, who is a resident of Jammu and Kashmir, would lose her property rights in case she marries a person from outside the state. The provision also extended to the children of such women.

This is not the first incident that the Haryana Chief Minister made controversial remarks. Last year he courted controversy by making objectionable remarks over rape incidents in the country.