Amit Shah, the Chanakya of BJP, is the new Home Minister of India. Shah spoke very aggressively against article 370 in many rallies during his election campaign. And now there are expectations that he will fulfill his promise soon. The BJP has always been against article 370 because it is in a way the basis for separatism in the Kashmir valley. The opposition of article 370 started by veterans like Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Deen Dayal Upadhyay was carried forward by Atal Bihar Vajpayee and L K Advani. In every election campaign BJP has raised this issue and even in the election manifesto of 2019 the BJP promised deletion of article 370 and 35 A. The BJP in its manifesto had said it was "committed to annulling Article 35A" of the Constitution of India as the provision is "discriminatory against non-permanent residents and women of Jammu and Kashmir".

 

 

Amit Shah made it a point to discuss article 370 and 35 A in most of his rallies during election campaign. In Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, while addressing the crowd Shah said that article 370 will be scrapped if BJP comes to power. In Ballia, UttarPradesh, he roared that "Omar Abdullah said that Kashmir should have a separate Prime Minister. How can a country have two Prime Ministers? These people want to separate Kashmir from India. Rahul Gandhi and Omar Abdullah should know that Kashmir is India's inseparable part and till the day BJP's leaders are alive, nobody can take Kashmir away from us. Reinstate Narendra Modi as our PM and we would remove article 370". He added that irrespective of whether the BJP government remains in power nobody can take Kashmir away from India till party leaders are alive. In Medininagar, Jharkhand Shah said "We cannot compromise with the security of the nation. Pakistan wants to separate Kashmir from India. We will not allow it… Pakistan se goli aayegi to yahan se gola jayaga (if a bullet comes from Pakistan, a bomb will be sent there)," In his rally in Kalimpong, West Bengal, Shah reiterated BJPs commitment to scrap article 370 and he also said that if BJP comes back they will ensure the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to throw out every single infiltrator from India.

 

 

 

 

Article 370 is a Temporary provision in the Indian constitution, but it is yet not deleted. A large number of provisions from the Indian constitution are not implemented in J&K, as a result no welfare provisions of India are implemented in the state. Art 35 A is unconstitutional because it was inserted in the constitution by a Presidential Order in 1954 and not through an amendment by the Parliament. In fact, it was never sent to the parliament and was never even discussed in the Parliament.

 

 

 

 

 

Art 35 A is discriminatory and it violates the Fundamental Rights of a number of communities in J&K by denying Permanent Resident Certificate- PRC to them. It violates the rights of the Scheduled Caste persons, who are not given the PRC and hence are forced to take up the job only of Sweepers in Jammu municipality. 35 A violates the rights of the Hindus and Sikhs, who migrated to J & K in 1947 from West Pakistan. Till date they are called West Pak Refugee. 90% are OBC and 10 % are SC. Without PRC they cannot get higher education, jobs, cannot buy property, have no voting rights at the state level. Even Gorkhas are facing the same discrimination. Thus, it discriminates against Women, who get married to non- PRC holder, or outside the state cannot give their property to their children. Due to this article, although all the facilities are given to this state from the tax payers money, but the same taxpayers from rest of India are prohibited from settling down in J&K. The irony is that all those who do not have a PRC, are prohibited from contesting local bodies and state elections, nor can they vote in these elections, they cannot buy any property or start any business, nor can they get education in any govt institution or any govt jobs. The situation gets grim, when even the widows of the soldiers, who lay their lives defending the borders are not allowed to get even a piece of land in J&K.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the light of such destructive and obstructive character, article 370 and 35 A must be deleted so that the constitution of India is fully implemented in J&K. Amit Shah as the home minister has a very challenging but important task ahead. The BJP must fulfill its promises and Shah must do what he has said in his election campaigns.