Rahul Gandhi accepts Governor Satya Pal Malik's invitation to visit Kashmir

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi today had responded to an invitation sent to him by the Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik visit Jammu and Kashmir and "observe" before speaking about the violence in the state.

The Congress leader had tweeted that he would take him up on the "gracious invitation", along with a delegation of opposition leaders.

The Governor had offered to send Rahul Gandhi a plane to take him to the Kashmir Valley.

"We won't need an aircraft but please ensure us the freedom to travel and meet the people, mainstream leaders and our soldiers stationed over there," replied the former Congress president.

"I have invited Rahul Gandhi to come here. I will send you a plane, to observe (the situation) and then speak up. You are a responsible person and you should not speak like this," Satya Pal Malik said.

"The scrapping of Article 370 and Article 35A was for everyone. There is no communal angle (for scrapping it) in Leh, Kargil, Jammu, Rajouri-Poonch and not here either (Kashmir valley). There is no communal angle to it," he added.

Replying to a question about allegations that Kashmir valley has been turned into a "concentration camp", the Governor said people don't know the meaning of a concentration camp.

"I know what it is. I have gone to jail 30 times. Even then, I will not term it as a concentration camp. They (Congress) imprisoned people for one-and-half-years during Emergency, but nobody termed them concentration camps. Is preventative arrest (equal to) a concentration camp?" he said.