JAMMU: Former Deputy Chief Minister & Senior BJP Leader, Kavinder Gupta on the last day his 5 day tour of Mumbai met many businessmen and BJP leaders to discuss the situation after abrogation of Article 370 & 35A from Jammu & Kashmir. He met Chandrakant Dada, State BJP Chief, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Mumbai President, Harsh Patel, Corporator Goregaon, Advocate Sami, Yogendra Patel, Bhargav Patel and other state BJP Leaders. He said public has been misguided on this issue by various discussions across the nation by the sympethesizers of Pakistan. It has always being centered around a Hindu-Muslim matter or about the perceived autonomy of Kashmir. It was clear whilst comprehensively analyzing the issue of Article 370 and 35-A, that it was a case of unequal federalism gone awry. He said BJP leaders have to make the public aware about Article 370 details and the relationship Kashmir will share with the rest of the country.
Gupta said, Congress did a blunder by passing Article 35-A through a Presidential order Instead of taking a legislative route. It subverted the law-making powers of the legislature, granted by the Constitution. The order, passed in 1954 by the President, was due to fulfilling Article 370 (1) (d). Article 370, itself was supposed to be temporary; the first word of the Article is temporary. It still sits under Part XXI which is titled “Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions“.
To recapitulate – an unlawful order was passed to subvert the Fundamental Rights of non-permanent residents based on an Article which was supposed to be temporary. Famously, Dr. Ambedkar declared that he would never, as Law Minister, consent to Article 370. He said – “You wish India should protect your borders, she should build roads in your area, she should supply you foodgrains, and Kashmir should get equal status as India. But the Government of India should have only limited powers and Indian people should have no rights in Kashmir. To give consent to this proposal, would be a treacherous thing against the interests of India and I, as the Law Minister of India, will never do it“.The handling of the entire issue is a classic historical folly.
The state of J&K itself has done phenomenally well on its indicators as an Indian state should. It has grown by almost 6.8% last year, ensured a greater number of schools per household and even health and connectivity outcomes have outperformed expectations. A big reason is that it is also heavily subsidized by the Centre. Article 370, very obviously, however,was an impediment in restricting private or global investment into the state. If Indians (non-Kashmiris) cannot invest in land or property, how can manufacturing firms or multinational corporations invest in the J&K.? These might have provided jobs to the young people of Kashmir. Professors cannot be hired from outside the state except in extremely low quotas.