SDPI STRONGLY CONDEMNS THE GOVERNMENT PLAN TO ABROGATE ARTICLE 370 AND 35A

New Delhi: Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has strongly condemned the decision of the central Govt. to abrogate Articles 370 and 35A of the constitution, applicable to Jammu and Kashmir as it does tramples up on the rights of the Kashmiri people.

SDPI National President M.K. Faizy, in a statement said that Article 370 was the key provision of the Treaty of Accession signed by the Govt. of India and Maharaja Hari Singh in 1947. Its abrogation does not have any legal validity. The article served as a mechanism for managing Centre’s relations with the province. Apart from the autonomy, it also lends other powers such as the need of “concurrence of the state government” if the central government plans to make amendments to the concurrent list of subjects. it is to be noted the article is a permanent feature of the constitution and the Supreme Court as well as the high courts have repeatedly upheld that Article 370 is indeed a permanent provision of the Constitution. In a judgment delivered in 2018, the top court said that though the article’s title noted it as ‘temporary’, it was very much of a permanent nature.

Faizy, said the BJP government under Narendra Modi has used extreme force in valley since 2014 and failed miserably. It is very clear that the government is trying to appease the Hindutva Right. By this draconian and highly insensitive action the Home Minister has alienated even the moderate sections of Kashmiri leadership and sends the message that people’s democratic rights can be suppressed through the use of military and the crisis in the valley, which has so far claimed thousands of lives, can be solved by a few draconian and high-handed measures.

It is also to be noted that such articles are in force in many states, including Himachal Pradesh and the Northeast which the ultra- nationalists don’t want to touch for it will not serve them politically. Article 371A for instance assures non-application of Citizenship Act in Nagaland. No Indian citizen can buy land in most of the north-eastern states.

Faizy appealed to the progressive, secular and democratic forces to rally up united against such fascist measures which at the end of the day are going to morph India into a fearsome majoritarian state.