Significant declaration
On August 5, 2023 – the 4th death anniversary of seditious and temporary Article 370 and discriminatory and unconstitutional Article 35A – PM Narendra Modi made a significant remark on his August 5, 2019, path-breaking reform scheme that changed the whole course of J&K history, rendered Kashmiri separatists of all varieties, including Farooq Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, unreal and ineffective and integrated the whole region comprising Jammu province, Kashmir and Trans-Himalayan Ladakh into India.
What exactly the PM said? He said: “For us, the decision of August 5 is irrevocable. The resolve to take J&K and Ladakh on a new path is also unwavering. On August 5, the entire Constitution of India and the law came into force in J&K. We removed the biggest obstacle to the development of J&K and Ladakh”. He said this in the quote to Samachar fortnightly magazine published by the Press Information Bureau in an exclusive article dedicated to the completion of four years of abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India [1].
Irani’s LS assertion
On August 9, Union Minister Smriti Irani made almost an identical statement on the August 5 reform scheme. While participating in the debate on the no-confidence motion moved by the Mother Of All Ills, the London-founded Congress, against the Modi government in the Lok Sabha, she, inter-alia, said: “Article 370 will never be restored”[2].
Abdullah blissfully ignorant
The PM’s August 5 declaration and the August 9 assertion of Minister Irani so rattled the already frustrated, defeated, and desperate UK-born and former J&K CM Omar Abdullah that he went astray. So rattled was he that he said: “The issue is before the SC, let the SC take a decision. Why are they threatening the SC? A Union minister has made such remarks today in Parliament that they will never allow it to happen. We are waiting for the SC’s decision, they should also do it. Do they feel their case is so weak that they feel the need to threaten? It is regretful. It is almost tantamount to the contempt of court,” he said[3].
While making this silly statement, Omar Abdullah forgot two things. One was that the proceedings in the legislature or a statement made by any elected representative in any Indian legislature cannot be termed contempt of court. The reason is obvious: The legislature makes laws, which can be challenged in the SC only if the law violates the basic structure of the constitution or goes beyond the confines of the basic structure definition.
Gogoi’s view on the basic structure
Significantly, on August 7, 2023, Rajya Sabha member and former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi even went to the extent of suggesting that the very concept of basic structure needed a discussion [4]. He made this very significant statement while supporting the Delhi Service Bill – a statement which dumbfounded the supporters of the anarchist Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), all bitter opponents of the Delhi Service Bill.
Overlooking Mehbooba’s nasty statement
The other was that the frustrated and out-on-the-limb Abdullah overlooked the fact that another defeated and frustrated Kashmiri politician, nay rabble-rouser and separatist of separatists former CM Mehbooba Mufti, also spoke on Article 370 in Srinagar and that, too, on August 9, 2023, itself.
What did she say? She, among other things, said: “I am happy over the arguments in the SC. These are the issues me and PDP have been raising since 2019. The SC is fortunate that it does not face any hurdle, but our people are either arrested or put under house arrest for the same arguments that the decision taken in Parliament trampled the Constitution…The arguments in the apex court make it ‘clear’ that Parliament has no power to abrogate Article 370 till the constituent assembly of J&K does not recommend it to the President.
There was no constituent assembly, (then J&K governor) Satya Pal Malik was made the constituent assembly, and his advisors were made the council of ministers, what can be the biggest fraud than that? What could be the biggest betrayal than that with the Constitution? What can be the biggest disrespect of Parliament than using your brute majority to desecrate Parliament and using it to take illegal decisions?… She is happy that an open discussion is taking place in the top court and all the lawyers, including Kapil Sibal and others, are raising arguments openly that ‘there is no power in the world that can end Article 370 even if you have 500 MPs unless J&K’s constituent assembly recommends it’. This is clear” [5].
What does all this show and prove? It shows and proves that Omar Abdullah has either lost his balance of mind or he has lost his way and gone astray. At the same time, what the PM and the Minister said on August 5 and 9 established that seditious Article 370 and discriminatory Article 35A have become a story of the past.
PS: Abhishek Singhvi’s view on Article 370’s fate
(It would not be out of place to refer here to what the Congress’s RS MP and national spokesperson and senior advocate, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, told the Indian Express on 6, 2023. He inter-alia said: “…Too much commenting on the merit is unnecessary in the view of an impending judgment and also inappropriate…This is purely my personal view, the greater, live issue may well be the bifurcation or reduction in status from the state level to Union Territory…rather than the Article 370 issue, which may well have become a fait accompli now…”[6].
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
Reference:
[1] Aug 5 decision irrevocable, Govt’s resolve to take J&K, Ladakh on new path unwavering: PM – Aug 06, 2023, Daily Excelsior
[2] Article-370 Will Never Be Restored: Irani – Aug 09, 2023, Kashmir Observer
[3] Irani’s remarks over Article 370 tantamount to contempt of court: Omar Abdullah – Aug 10, 2023, The Hindu
[4] Delhi services bill: RS MP Gogoi questions basic structure, Justice Gogoi had quoted it – Aug 08, 2023, The Indian Express
[5] Happy Over Arguments In The Supreme Court On Article 370: Mehbooba Mufti – Aug 09, 2023, Daily Excelsior
[6] ‘No delay as yet… but to not reinstate Rahul henceforth would show a lack of grace… Everything is not written in rules’: Abhishek Singhvi – Aug 06, 2023, The Indian Express
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