BJP MP Rakesh Sinha Flays Congress Stand on Article 370

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: BJP’s Member of Parliament Rakesh Sinha has flayed the Congress for its stand on Article 370. Interacting with a group of reporters in NEHU guest house here on Tuesday, Sinha said: “In party democracy, national interest should be the centre.” Rakesh Sinha added that every parliamentarian, every person in public life should keep himself or herself away from the narrow thinking and when we see India from a holistic perspective, then our clash, differences will lead to evolution rather than destruction.

Article 370 of the Indian constitution gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir—a state in India, located in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, and a part of the larger region of Kashmir, which has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947 allowing it to have a separate constitution, a state flag, and autonomy over the internal administration of the state. The government of India revoked this special status in August 2019 through a Presidential Order and the passage of a resolution in Parliament.

The article was drafted in Part XXI of the Constitution: Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions. The Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, after its establishment, was empowered to recommend the articles of the Indian constitution that should be applied to the state or to abrogate the Article 370 altogether. After consultation with the state's Constituent Assembly, the 1954 Presidential Order was issued, specifying the articles of the Indian constitution that applied to the state. Since the Constituent Assembly dissolved itself without recommending the abrogation of Article 370, the article was deemed to have become a permanent feature of the Indian Constitution.

This article, along with Article 35A, defined that the Jammu and Kashmir state's residents live under a separate set of laws, including those related to citizenship, ownership of property, and fundamental rights, as compared to a resident of other Indian states. As a result of this provision, Indian citizens from other states could not purchase land or property in Jammu & Kashmir.

On 5 August 2019, President Ram Nath Kovind issued a constitutional order revoking the 1954 order, and making all the provisions of the Indian constitution applicable to Jammu and Kashmir. Following resolutions passed in both the Houses of Parliament, he issued a further order on 6 August declaring all the clauses of Article 370 to be inoperative.

In addition, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act was passed in both the houses of Parliament, enacting the division the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories to be called Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The reorganization is scheduled to take place on 31 October 2019.

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