Article 370, Article 35A and Trifurcation

Govt revokes Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, bifurcates state into two Union Territories. The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019 passed by Rajya Sabha

Aye :125 No :61 Abstain :1

Which Party stands where?

Sl.no	PARTY	STAND
1	BSP	Supported
2	YSRCP	Supported
3	TRS	Supported
4	DMK	Not Supported
5	Congress	Not Supported
6	AAP	Supported
7	JD(U)	Not Supported
8	MDMK	Not Supported
9	BDFP	Supported
10	CPI	Not Supported
11	BJD	Supported
12	Shiv Sena	Supported
13	AIDMK	Supported
14	SP	Not Supported
15	AGP	Supported
16	TMC	Not Supported

All about 35A

The Presidential Order was issued under Article 370 (1) (d) of the Constitution. This provision allows the President to make certain “exceptions and modifications” to the Constitution for the benefit of ‘State subjects’ of Jammu and Kashmir. So Article 35A was added to the Constitution as a testimony of the special consideration the Indian government accorded to the ‘permanent residents’ of Jammu and Kashmir.

The parliamentary route of lawmaking was bypassed when the President incorporated Article 35A into the Constitution. Article 368 (i) of the Constitution empowers only Parliament to amend the Constitution. So did the President act outside his jurisdiction? Is Article 35A void because the Nehru government did not place it before Parliament for discussion? A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in its March 1961 judgment in Puranlal Lakhanpal vs. The President of India discusses the President’s powers under Article 370 to ‘modify’ the Constitution. 

Though the court observes that the President may modify an existing provision in the Constitution under Article 370, the judgment is silent as to whether the President can, without the Parliament’s knowledge, introduce a new Article. This question remains open. A writ petition filed by NGO We the Citizens challenges the validity of both Article 35A and Article 370. It argues that four representatives from Kashmir were part of the Constituent Assembly involved in the drafting of the Constitution and the State of Jammu and Kashmir was never accorded any special status in the Constitution. Article 370 was only a ‘temporary provision’ to help bring normality in Jammu and Kashmir and strengthen democracy in that State, it contends. 

The Constitution-makers did not intend Article 370 to be a tool to bring permanent amendments, like Article 35A, in the Constitution. The petition said Article 35 A is against the “very spirit of oneness of India” as it creates a “class within a class of Indian citizens”. Restricting citizens from other States from getting employment or buying property within Jammu and Kashmir is a violation of fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. A second petition filed by Jammu and Kashmir native Charu Wali Khanna has challenged Article 35A for protecting certain provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, which restrict the basic right to property if a native woman marries a man not holding a permanent resident certificate. “Her children are denied a permanent resident certificate, thereby considering them illegitimate,” the petition said.

The Supreme Court is hearing a PIL petition challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35A. Article 35A allows the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to define the list of ‘permanent residents’ of the state, who

1. Are eligible to vote
2. Can work for the state government.
3. Can own land, buy property 
4. Can secure public employment and college admissions, etc. 

Non-permanent residents are denied all these rights

What Pakistan has done with POK?

Islamabad abolished the State Subject Rule in Gilgit Baltistan in 1984, which resulted in demographic changes in the territory. People from different parts of Pakistan are free to purchase land there.

"Pakistan has never kept its end of bargain when comes to Jammu and Kashmir. It has encroached on the land of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). It has awarded the land of PoJK to China. It is changing the local demography that further violates the State Subject Rule," said Senge H. Sering from the Institute for Gilgit Baltistan Studies in Washington.

Which country stands where

FOR :

1. UAE
2. Sri Lanka 

AGAINST :

1. Pakistan
2. Turkey 
3. Malaysia

OM Shanti 

• Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Founder of BJP, who died under mysterious circumstances in Kashmir.
• Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, 1st PM of India 
• Dr. B.R Ambedkar, Constitution drafter 
• Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Iron Man of India, 1st HM 
• Dr. Rajendra Prasad, 1st President of India and to all those Fallen who have given their life to see this day. May your soul get moksha. Om Shanti.