Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs
NEW DELHI: In a move that will have massive repercussions for Kashmir, the Centre has decided to repeal Article 370 and Article 35-A of the Constitution that grants special status to the state. Announcing the move, home minister Amit Shah also decided to bifurcate the state into two Union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, which will have a legislature, and Ladakh, which will be without a legislature.
Shah moved the amendment amid uproar by opposition members. He said the UT in Ladakh will have no legislature like Chandigarh while the other UT of Jammu and Kashmir will have a legislature like Delhi and Puducherry.
Making a historic announcement in the Rajya Sabha that triggered bedlam, Shah said: "I am presenting the resolution to revoke Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir except the first clause 370 (1).
This comes at a time when the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir continues to be on The Home Minister's announcement evoked strong protests from the opposition with leaders of Congress, TMC, DMK, AAP, NCP and Left raising slogans and storming the well of the House. They later squatted in the well and continued with their protest.
However, some regional parties like BSP, BJD, TRS and AIADMK extended full support to the resolution and the bill while NDA constituent JD(U) walked out.
Shah, who received a standing ovation from his party colleagues when he entered the House minutes before proceedings in the Rajya Sabha commenced, termed the move as "historical", saying Article 370 has not allowed integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the country.
The Union Territory of Ladakh was a long pending demand of the people of the region and the decision was aimed at fulfilling the aspiration of the local population, the Minister said. Two members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nazeer Ahmed Laway and Mir Mohammad
Fayaz, were shunted out of the Rajya Sabha after they removed copies of the Constitution.
PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti described the decision to scrap Article 370 as "the darkest day in Indian democracy".
He also said that Article 370 can be abrogated through such an order, as there are provisions within the said Article to do so.
Reading out provisions of Article 370 (3), the Home Minister said there are provisions within that state that Article 370 shall cease to be operative or can be amended and the President has the right to issue such a notification or constitutional order. "We are adopting the same path as adopted by the Congress in 1952 and 1962 by amending the provisions of Article 370 the same way through a notification," Shah told the House, after Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) sought to know if the Constitution can be amended without a Constitutional amendment.
"There are no merits in the opposition stand and they are opposing it only to do politics and are creating ruckus inside the House," he said.
Soon after Shah's announcement, one of the PDP members tore his clothes and then along with another PDP member tore copies of the Constitution, prompting Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to orderthat they be physically removed.
The surprise announcement came after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, where the PM, Home Minister Amit Shah and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met at the PM's residence.
This meeting was preceded by another meeting that started an hour earlier in which Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was also present.
These key meetings were held after mobile internet services were suspended in Jammu, in view of the prevailing security situation in the region.
In Jammu, the government has imposed Section 144, which prevents the gathering of more than four people in the area.
Kashmir has been on the edge in the wake of a massive security build-up. Leaders of all major political parties in the state met here on Sunday and urged India and Pakistan not to take any step which may disturb the peace and escalate tensions between the two countries.
Kashmir Special Status Under Article 370 Ends "At Once": 10 Points
Article 370: Jammu and Kashmir will also be "reorganised," said Home Minister Amit Shah, with the state's bifurcation into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh
NEW DELHI: Special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution has been removed by a presidential order that would come into force "at once", Home Minister Amit Shah said in parliament on Monday, announcing the most farreaching move on the state in nearly seven decades. The announcement came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting of his cabinet at his house this morning. Amit Shah also introduced a bill to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, which was passed in the Rajya Sabha. Prepping for any trouble in the state after the announcement, the centre moved 8,000 paramilitary troops from different parts of the country to Kashmir, in addition to nearly 35,000 personnel moved in the past week.
Here are the 10 latest developments in this big story:
1. Article 370 gave Jammu and Kashmir its own constitution and decision-making rights for all matters barring defence, communications and foreign affairs. Its removal ends special status for Kashmir, which was key to its accession to India in 1947.
2. Article 370 made it necessary for the centre to get the state legislature's approval for introducing any policies or constitutional powers to the state.
3. In a proposed law, which has cleared the Rajya Sabha and will need the Lok Sabha's approval, Jammu and Kashmir will cease to be a state and become two union territories with two Lieutenant Governors. Ladakh will be a Union Territory without a legislature and Jammu and Kashmir will have a legislature.
4. The government's huge step followed a massive build-up of troops in the sensitive Kashmir Valley and a night where senior leaders including former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were placed under house arrest. 5.Internet and phone lines were forced out of service in parts of Jammu and Kashmir. All educational institutions and offices are closed and groups have been banned from gathering in Kashmir and Jammu.
6. Thousands of paramilitary troops were sent to Kashmir last week after the government said it was cancelling the Amarnath Yatra, an annual pilgrimage, and asked tourists and outsiders to leave the state.
7. The cabinet met this morning at the home of PM Modi after which all ministers and the PM moved to parliament for Amit Shah's big announcement.
8. Arun Jaitley said in tweets: "A historical wrong has been undone today. Article 35A came through the back door without following the procedure under Article 368 of the Constitution of India. It had to go."
9. The government received support from parties like ally Shiv Sena and even from rival leaders like Chandrababu Naidu, Arvind Kejriwal and Mayawati. BJP ally Nitish Kumar's party was among those who opposed the move but helped by boycotting the vote.
10. Omar Abdullah said: "The government of India (GOI)'s unilateral and shocking decisions today are a total betrayal of the trust that the people of Jammu & Kashmir had reposed in India when the State acceded to it in 1947. The decisions will have far-reaching and dangerous consequences. This is an aggression against people of the State as had been warned by an all-parties meeting in Srinagar yesterday."
Article 370 rendered toothless, Article 35A ceases to exist
The 1954 presidential proclamation, which wasn't passed by Parliament, gave Article 370 expression on ground.
The government may have moved Parliament to remove Article 370 from J &K, but before doing so it first rendered the provision toothless by revoking the 1954 Presidential proclamation through a gazette notification in the morning.
With that revocation order, Article 35A now ceases to exist regardless of how the situation evolves in Parliament on removal of Article 370. The reason being that this was inserted through a presidential proclamation of 1954, drawing powers from Article 370.
But this morning, the government scrapped that proclamation through the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019. “It shall come into force at once, and shall thereupon supersede the
Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954 as amended from time to time,” stated the order.
The 1954 presidential proclamation, which was not passed by Parliament, is what gave Article 370 expression on ground. Interestingly, the NDA government opted against another Presidential proclamation to replace the 1954 order but did so through a notification following a Home Ministry decision. Article 35A was inserted in the 1954 proclamation, which also stated that the boundaries of the State could not be changed without consent of state legislature. This was stated, as such, in Part 1 of the preamble of the order: "Provided further that no Bill providing for increasing or diminishing the area of the State of Jammu and Kashmir or altering the name or boundary of that State shall be introduced in Parliament without the consent of the Legislature of that State."
Monday’s order, thus, made it possible for the government to introduce a legislation to separate Ladakh from J&K and make the remainder state a Union Territory with an assembly. The 1954 order made a distinction between Indian citizens and permanent residents. Article 35A recognized the special rights of those with Permanent Resident Certificates (PRCs). Those with PRCs had rights to property, employment in State government and participation in local as well as assembly elections.
The BJP’s contention has been that due to this provision, the constitutionally mandated SC/ST reservations was not being implemented in State. The case often cited was that of Valmikis who were not given PRCs in the State despite being there since 1957. Monday’s order, thus, does away with all those special rights for PRCs. But the Centre cannot make new rules unless Article 370 is removed. One of the key features of Article 35A was that rights for PRCs will not be struck down on the grounds that they were inconsistent with those given to Indian citizens: “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution, no existing law in force in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and no law hereafter enacted by the Legislature of the State…. shall be void on the ground that it is inconsistent with or takes away or abridges any rights conferred on the other citizens of India by any provision of this Part.”
The State legislature’s law-making sphere which would not be challenged on grounds of inconsistency with Constitution was also defined by the 1954 proclamation: a) Defining the classes of persons who are, or shall be permanent residents of the State of Jammu and Kashmir; b) Conferring on such permanent residents any special rights as respects: (i) employment under the State Government; (ii) acquisition of immovable property in the State; (iii) settlement in the State; or (iv) right to scholarships and such other forms of aid as the State Government may provide.
The 1954 proclamation was a fallout of the 1952 Delhi Agreement between then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah. At that point, it was said the Centre had gone beyond what was agreed.
Sixty-five years later, the order has been rolled back through a package of decision that aims to not only end the special status for the state, but also redefine its future relationship closer to the Centre as a Union Territory.