Article 370: What government does going forward is crucial

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Aug 05, 2019 : It takes enormous political courage and administrative will to remove, in one fell swoop, Article 370 and Article 35(A) of the Constitution as to Yahoo.

 

The BJP has been promising this since its Jan Sangh days, for its core belief is that the Kashmir situation is a mess, and it is not fully assimilated into larger India, because Jammu & Kashmir has been allowed to operate as akin to a sixth finger in one’s hand.

The BJP, in its election manifestos, had always promised the scrapping of both the Articles. In 1999 and 2014, it did not have the numbers to pull this off. Now that it has sorted out the floor management in Rajya Sabha, the BJP with its enormous numbers in the LS, is just steamrolling its way ahead- sometimes, with the force of a freight train.


Article 370 - Light at the end of the tunnel

Now with the two contentious Articles gone, there will be plenty of acrimony from all sides. The right wing would defend its way of basically presenting a fait accompli in Parliament. The govt having moved on the matter without as much as consulting the stakeholders is bound to be raked up. Moves such as shutting down J&K by mobilising 40,000 extra troops, putting political leaders under house arrest, stopping internet and telephone services don’t exactly belong in a democracy.

But the government will always turn around and say that they were preemptive and preventive measures to stop the situation from slipping out of hand, as some of the political elements are less than trustworthy.

There are also bound to be legal wrangles about the modus operandi, and since the Supreme Court had earlier said that Article 370 is more or less permanent, things can be expected to be challenged on this ground too.

Cutting through all the jargon, Article 370 was essentially a ’temporary’ provision only and Article 35(A) was itself presented via a Presidential decree too. So in that sense, methods of removing them are mere technicalities.

Also, it is a fact that Articles 370 and 35(A) did alienate J&K from mainland India because of problematic clauses like not allowing outsiders to buy land. To be sure, special status is also provided through other Constitutional provisions to other states in the country. But since they don’t face militancy and terrorism, nobody sees those provisions as problematic. In J&K, there is room to argue that militancy and terrorism had taken root because the Pandits had been driven away and one community is holding sway mostly.


Article 370- What do they really want?

Anyway, the thing is removing Articles 370 and 35(A) are in themselves no solution to the issue. What the government follows it up with is the key here.

Just like demonetisation, if the government botches up the follow-up work, then the whole purpose is lost. Here too, the government’s strong-arming would stand justified only if they help to engender peace in the valley.

Otherwise, it will prove to be a mere jingoist sabre-rattling exercise.

Just don’t go by what the social media platforms tell you. Some will exclaim that it is a ‘murder of democracy’. Some others will counter with claims of how ‘India has finally shown some courage’. It is neither as of now.

What it is will be decided by what the government does from now on.