HVK Archives: ARTICLE 370
ARTICLE 370 - Mid-day
Ashok Chowgule
()
Mon, 17 Jun 96 21:21:50 PDT
Title: ARTICLE 370
Author: Ashok Chowgule
1 The genesis of Article 370 in our Constitution is in
the Deed of Accession on the basis of which the then
Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir decided to join India
rather
than Pakistan in 1947. At the time of the writing of the
Constitution, this was the only state which had any
special provision. It is in this context that the
heading of the article is "TEMPORARY provisions in
respect to the state of Jammu & Kashmir". It is,
therefore, quite clear that the original framers of the
Constitution had intended that the provisions would be
done away with in time, and the Article 370 would be
eventually abolished. Unfortunately, they did not
specify the time frame in which this would be done.
2 The general (mis)conception of Article 370 is that
non- Kasmiris cannot buy land in Kashmir. This is
supposed to protect the beauty of the state, making it
impossible for the rich to build a holiday home the
there. These holiday homes would be used
for three or four weeks a year, and thus deny the local
people the use of the place. Such a construction would
also increase the price of land, putting the poor at a
disadvantage. While these laudable objectives are
worthwhile to follow, there is no need for a
constitutional provision to achieve them. They can be
well ensured in terms of determining how the land is to
be used, the floor space index, etc.
3 The important provision which has kept the people
from feeling that they are a part of India is the one
that gives the state assembly a veto right over the
Parliament. Any law that is passed by the latter is
applicable in the state only after the former accepts it.
Many of the laws applicable in the other states (like
MRTP, Company Law, etc.) did not apply to J&K for a
long
time. While those who were not the "sons of soil" had a
voting right to elect a Member of Parliament from J&K,
they did not have the similar right to elect a Member of
the Assembly. The Constitutional provision regarding
fundamental rights were made applicable in the late
fifties, even though the provision for detention was
applicable. The central government had to use a lot of
persuasion of the state government for this to happen.
4 If the Article was used to benefit the people of the
state, then there would not have been any objection.
However, it was used by the rulers as a means of
keeping
the state separate from the rest of the country, and the
people poor. Even though very large funds were
made
available for the development, J&K remains one of the
poorest state in the country. There has been large scale
corruption in the implementation of the various projects
financed by these funds. The net result is that the
people have been disillusioned, and have been looking
at
the ways of ridding themselves of such rulers, and
ensure
that true democracy is practiced - that is rule of the
people, by the people, and for the people.
5 The 1987 election was a blatantly rigged one. This
was done not only by the Farooq Abdullah government
in
the state, but had a lot of help from the Rajiv Gandhi
government and the Congress party. They had
decided
before the polls that the best thing for the people was
to continue the chief ministership of Farooq. What the
people wanted was immaterial. If the election was a fair
one, those who founded the JKLF after the election
would
have won, and the corruption of the previous regimes
would have been exposed. The rightful winners did not
demand independence for the state before the
elections.
When they realised that the Indian concept of
democracy
was a dictatorship in another name, they realised that to
get the justice for the people, the only way was to have
a civil war. And this is what we have.
6 Article 370 has helped only the people like Farooq
Abdullah. It was convenient for the Congress party to
keep such people in the seat, as they have done in so
many other places. only a lip service is paid for
democratic traditions.
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