Art 370 is history now, SC asserts no such provision can make come back: Ram Madhav

The Supreme Court verdict that upholds the abrogation of Article 370 is the official stamp on the decision taken by the Union government on August 5, 2019, said Bharatiya Janata Party’s former national general secretary Ram Madhav.

The BJP leader, in an interview with Moneycontrol, said the judgment of the apex court reiterates what the constituent assembly had said in 1949 while deliberating on Article 370.

Notably, a five-member Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, unanimously upheld on December 11 the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A. It stated that Article 370 was a temporary provision and that the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir had no internal sovereignty.

“In the constituent assembly it was Article 306A and it was introduced one month before the actual draft was presented. The members of the Assembly including BR Ambedkar had said India is not going to be federal country like the USA or Australia, instead it will have a Union setup,” Madhav said.

He said the judgment makes it clear that Article 370 is gone and there is no way that it will come back as some parliamentarians were heard saying it will come back when there is another government.

“Article 370 is a history now and Supreme Court asserts that no such provision can make comeback in our Constitution. I see it as a great victory for India’s integrity and constitutional unity. A true federalism will survive now, where all states will be treated equal,” the BJP leader added.

While speaking on 24 seats kept reserved for Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK), Madhav said that the seats for the region have been kept reserved for the last seven decades, but governments never filled them up.

“When PoJK was given a legislature by the Parliament of Pakistan, 15 seats were created for people who migrated from the occupied territory and these seats were actually filled up. Earlier, we had kept 14 seats, now 24 are reserved and I personally feel these seats to need to be filled up with people who migrated from PoJK to the Indian side,” explained Ram Madhav.

People who have gone from the Indian side are sitting in the PoJK legislature, but there is no representative of the people who came to Indian side in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

“PoJK is an integral part of India and this has been our consistent stand. And we should continue to reiterate it in constitutional ways. In Simla agreement also, we have agreed to resolve this issue through dialogue and that path too needs to be pursued,” said the BJP leader.

The seats in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly increased after the final delimitation report was released on 5 May 2022 and it came into force from 20 May, 2022.

Speaking on elections, Ram Madhav said that the Union home minister has maintained that holding elections in the J&K and restoring statehood are on government’s agenda. The Centre is waiting for an appropriate time to implement them on ground.

“Even Supreme Court has also set a deadline for holding polls in the union territory and government is not in a denial mode,” said Madhav.

There are five Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, where polls will be held before May in 2024. Once these polls are over, all stakeholders including Election Commission of India and security agencies are expected to deliberate on the requirement to conduct the Assembly elections by September -- as stipulated by the apex court in its order.

“We are not opposing it. We are focusing on the fact that elections are held transparently and effectively,” said Madhav.

Jammu and Kashmir is without an elected government since June 2018, when the BJP broke its alliance with the People's Democratic Party (PDP), following which Mehbooba Mufti had to resign as the chief minister.

The state was headed by then Governor Satya Pal Malik, who dissolved the J&K Legislative Assembly on November 28, 2018, soon after Mehbooba Mufti had decided to form the government with the support of Congress and the National Conference (NC).

However, on December 19, 2018, then President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, issued a notification announcing President’s Rule in J&K under Article 356 of the Constitution of India. Eight months later, on August 5, 2019, the BJP-led government at the Centre repealed Article 370, and bifurcated the erstwhile state into Union Territories.

People of Jammu and Kashmir had lived under Article 370 for almost seven decades during which they experienced and faced violence, Madhav said. However, after abrogation of the article, people are living peacefully in the Valley, he added.

There have been significant changes in people’s lives as their identity is redefined as 100 percent Indians today, Madhav claimed.

There is no sign of people not being happy with the abrogation of Article 370. They want to give a chance to this change, said Madhav adding, “We ran government in Jammu and Kashmir and I know people are having clear thoughts of witnessing a new era development. Even after the SC judgement, people are not protesting, in fact they are taking it in their stride.”

The tourism industry in Kashmir is booming and this year the number of tourists will cross 20 million in 45 years. “People are genuinely happy. The last time when any movie theatre operated in the Valley was in 1990. Today, there is a multiplex in Srinagar and theatres in various districts like Kupwara,” he added.

After a gap of 23 years, cinemas have returned to Kashmir with the opening of a multiplex in the main city of Srinagar in September 2022. The cinemas over a period of time have been opened in districts Baramulla, Shopian and Pulwama.

Madhav also said that government provided certain opportunities for Kashmiri Pandits and provide them security so that they can live peacefully in the Valley.

“In the four years, 7,000 jobs were created for Kashmiri Pandits and 6,000 people joined. It means these number of families have gone back. The government is committed to create a conducive atmosphere for them. Even action is being taken against the people who illegally occupied properties of Kashmiri Pandits,” Madhav claimed.