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| From Supreme Court to Press Club Jammu | | Debate on Article 35-A | | Early Times Report
jammu, Oct 26: Jammu on Monday witnessed several developments. On the one hand, a number of groups celebrated the accession day and reiterated their commitment to defeat anti-India forces operating in the Valley and Pakistani anti-India machination, on the other, a Delhi-based NGO, affiliated to RSS, "We the Citizens" organized a debate on Article 35-A of the Indian Constitution, which was enforced in the State on May 14, 1954 without taking the Indian Parliament into confidence to empower the communal and Valley centric leadership to deprive the Indians, other than those considered State subjects till May 14, 1954 as per the 1927 State Subject definition, of those rights which were available to the State subjects. The rights include the right to immovable property, right to settle in J&K, right to jobs under the J&K Government and right to State-sponsored scholarship.
The segments of the State society which suffered the most on account of unconstitutional adoption and implementation of Article 35-A were the refugees from Pakistan and daughters of the State married outside the State to non-State subjects and the entire Indian population, minus the so-called State subjects.
The refugees from Pakistan, mostly Dalits, have been living in different parts of Jammu province, particularly in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts since 1947, but they have been denied the rights which are available to the State subjects. They have been leading a pathetic life despite the fact that they are citizens of India.
Similarly, the children of the daughters of the State married outside the State to non-State subjects have no right to inherit their mothers' properties in the State. In fact, they are considered non-State subjects.
Besides, Article 35-A has created a high wall between the people of J&K and the rest of the country, as none from the rest of the country could buy immovable property, obtain job under the State Government, avail himself/herself of any State-sponsored scholarships and settle permanently in any part of the State. The fact is that Article 35-A, like Article 370, considers the people of the State a race apart.
"We the Citizens", which approached the Supreme Court of India in August 2014 to urge the apex court to declare Article 35-A unconstitutional and null and void organized a debate on this roundly condemned Article in the Press Club Jammu. The organizers of the debate said their objective was to educate public opinion about the dangerous ramifications of Article 35-A and create conditions which could lead to its abrogation and empowerment of those segments of society which had been suffering because of it.
The grievance of the NGO is that the J&K Government has not been filing its response to the Supreme Court. "Since August 16, 2014, when our PIL on the abrogation of Article 35 (A) was accepted by the Supreme Court, at least seven notices have been given to both the Centre and State Government, but J&K has not given any reply…Our petition had come up before a Bench of Justice HL Dattu and SA Bobde in August 2014, but since then both the J&K Government and the Centre have been delaying filing response to it, thus avoiding to take a stand on the petition," Sandeep Kulkarni, president of "We the Citizens" was quoted as saying. The NGO added, and very rightly, that Article 35-A had "deprived" the people of the State of their "genuine fundamental rights".
All those who took part in the important debate opposed Article 35-A and questioned the intentions of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Each one of them demanded abrogation of this Article, saying its repeal was imperative not only for empowering certain segments of the State society but also for uniting the State with the rest of country. They also tore into the State Government of which the BJP is a part saying its indifferent attitude towards the Supreme Court's notices on the issue is causing an inordinate delay in the matter. It was resolved to take the fight to its logical conclusion.
It needs to be noted that all the Kashmir-based political parties, separatists and their supporters in the so-called Kashmiri civil society have joined hands against "We the Citizens" and resolved to protect Article 35-A and Article 370 at whatever cost. During the past several weeks, formations like Kashmir Centre for Social & Development Studies (KCSDS), Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), Federation of Commerce & Industry (FCI) and Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA) have expressed themselves in favour of Article 35-A. The Kashmir Bar Association too has resolved to protect this Article. It has even planned to approach the Supreme Court as an intervener. Besides, the NC, the Congress, the PDP and the CPI-M too have joined hands to ensure that Article 35-A remained in existence for all the times to come. |
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