Article 370 abrogation: Old demand sees light of day Congress calls it the 'worst day in the history of the Constitution of India'

TT, 5 August 2019, New Delhi:  PDP MPs from Jammu and Kashmir, Fayaz Ahmad Mir and Nazir Ahmad Laway, shout slogans during a protest outside Parliament on August 5.

The Narendra Modi government today made possible the BJP's and parent organisation RSS' longstanding demand by bringing a Presidential order that scraps Article 370 which had allowed Jammu and Kashmir certain legislative and administrative powers and privileges.

The Congress's P. Chidambaram said" This is the worst day in the history of the Constitution of India."

Home minister Amit Shah, who made the announcements in the Rajya Sabha, said the order was brought under Part 3 of Article 370. "Rashtrapati sansad ki is sipharish par ghoshana karte hain, ki... jis din Rashtrapati ke dwara is ghoshana pe hastakshar kiye jayenge, isey sarkari gazette mein prakashit kiya jayega, us din se Anuchhed 370 ke sabhi khand laagu nahin honge (The President on the dvice of the Parliament announces that... the day the President signs the order, publishes it in the gazette notification, from that day all sections of Article 370 will cease to be implemented)," Shah said.

Minutes after Shah read out the statement and the Opposition's shrill cries of "No" filled the House, the gazette notification was out.

The Presidential order, called the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019, said this current order would "supersede the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954". In other words it meant that Article 370 ceased to exist.  

Section 3 of Article 370 says: "Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of the article, the President may, by public notification, declare that this article shall cease to be operative or shall be operative only with such exceptions and modifications and from such date as he may notify."

The Article says that "the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State"  shall be "necessary before the President issues such a notification". Jammu and Kashmir has been under President's Rule since 2018, so there is no Assembly in function.

Whether the scrapping of Article 370, which was temporary in nature, will be challenged in court, is to be seen.

Shah also moved a bill seeking the state's bifurcation into two Union Territories, one of Jammu and Kashmir and the other of Ladakh, briinging forth a possibility that a separate state of Jammu and Kashmir may cease to exist in the future.

Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha and the National Conference and People's Democratic Party in Kashmir called the move anti-people and against democracy.

The move is this BJP government's boldest step yet on Jammu and Kashmir, an expected move as Shah had made it clear that abrogation of the Article was one of his areas of focus as the new home minister.

The BSP has supported the removal of Article 370 but initial reports suggested that the Janata Dal (United) has reservations about the Article. The Samajwadi Party stood with Opposition parties during a news conference.

The handle of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who is under house arrest, said: "GOIs intention is clear & sinister. They want to change demography of the only muslim majority state in India , disempower Muslims to the extent where they become second class citizens in their own state." 

Mehbooba Mufti ✔@MehboobaMufti

 GOIs intention is clear & sinister. They want to change demography of the only muslim majority state in India , disempower Muslims to the extent where they become second class citizens in their own state.

Congress senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the move by the BJP-led government today had "betrayed" the people of the state.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, also under house arrest, released a statement that said the decision was "unilateral decision" by government, "a total betrayal of trust". The government "resorted to deceit, stealth in recent weeks to lay ground for these disastrous decisions", he added.