Article 370: A strategic move by Modi?

New Delhi: Notwithstanding the political stir which BJP prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi’s suggestion of a debate on Article 370 of the Indian Constitution created, for the Sangh Parivar, it was a “strategic move” by the Gujarat Chief Minister to bring this contentious issue at the forefront in this political season.

While Modi’s statement given during a party rally in Jammu was seen as a departure from the BJP’s position seeking complete abrogation of Article 370, the BJP leadership on Monday denied there was any softening of stand on the issue. Article 370 has always been one of the core ideological planks for the Sangh and its affiliates, including the saffron party.

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Sources disclosed Modi, who had an image makeover from being a saffron poster boy to a development-oriented leader, used the development card to raise the issue when he asked whether or not Jammu and Kashmir has benefited from Article 370.

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He even emphasised that the saffron party would transform the “separate state” into a “super state”. His statement came under attack from mainstream parties and separatists in J&K.

A day after making his statement, Modi tweeted “We need rational & focused debate not only on 370 but other issues relating to J&K, including suffering of sections of J&K society.”

Seeking to take credit for raising the issue, he said, “Glad that after my call for a debate on Article 370, it is being widely debated among people & across TV, social media.”

He further tweeted “It is said about J&K if there is heaven on earth, it is here. We all need to work to make J&K a heaven of peace, integration & diversity.”

The BJP also supported Modi’s demand, with Leaders of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj saying that Modi only said what Sangh ideologue Shyama Prasad Mukherjee had earlier stated.

“It would be incorrect for anyone to interpret the BJP’s challenge for a debate on this issue as a softening of stand on Article 370,” Jaitley said.

Swaraj said, “Modi has asked what have been the benefits of Article 370. This is not being soft on the issue. Modi questioned whether there has been any gain from Article 370 and that this issue should be debated.”

Jaitley, however, attacked J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah and his party as well as the PDP for taking an “anti-daughter” position in J&K on the issue of equal rights to them, saying both the NC and the PDP had opposed the grant of equal rights to women once they married outside the state.

Modi had said that women were not given equal rights in the state unlike the rest of the country.

“Can the chief minister ignore a dubious track record of his party on this issue and indulge in discourteous tweets on the subject? It must be accepted by one and all that such discriminatory provisions which also compromise on the right to live with dignity have no place in Indian law,” he said in an article on a social media post.

Jaitley said Jammu and Kashmir’s integration with India is an essential part of the ideology of Bhartiya Jana Sangh and now the BJP.

“The BJP believes that Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee’s vision of complete integration of Jammu & Kashmir was the correct vision for India....The Nehruvian vision of a separate status has given rise to aspirations for the pre-1953 status, self-rule and even Azadi.

The desire of proponents of these three ideas has weakened the constitutional and political relationship between Jammu & Kashmir and the rest of the country. The journey of separate status has been towards separatism and not towards integration,” he said.

Next: Article 370: A storm in election season?

Article 370: A storm in election season?

Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, while campaigning in Jammu on Sunday, opened up the issue of Article 370 of the Constitution, that accords a special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

And while he sought to give the impression that he wanted to initiate a debate on whether this provision should remain or go, he also pointed to what he considered the downside of continuing with this clause that enabled the smooth integration of the former princely state with the Indian Union.

Modi made it clear, therefore, which side of the debate he was on.

But in his effort to arouse his audience by pointing to what he considered Article 370’s deficiencies — in so far as it affects ordinary citizens — Modi seems to have got his facts wrong, confirming his reputation for being ill-informed or good-naturedly distorting information to suit a political purpose.

Giving a misleading example, he said for example that when a Kashmiri woman marries someone outside the state, she loses her status as a “state subject”. That is not consistent with the facts.

The “state subjects” question is, however, signficant as only this category of persons — deemed to denote those rooted in Jammu & Kashmir  — are permitted to own land and property in the state.

Those who want the speedy end of Article 370 often do so in the hope that it will open up the property and real estate market in Jammu & Kashmir to people from other parts of the country.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee did not put Article 370 on his government’s agenda though scrapping this provision was a key issue for the RSS and BJP, which had campaigned all along for it.

It appears now that Narendra Modi plans to bring it back into focus in his election campaign (just as his acolyte Amit Shah did in the case of the Babri Masjid/Ram Mandir issue). People in Jammu, of course, might be more receptive to such a call unlike those in the Kashmir Valley.

Modi has also indicated that Jammu & Kashmir should be given the chance to benefit from various national laws. But key national provisions, such as the writ of the Supreme Court, already apply to Kashmir in spite of Article 370’s existence.

The BJP’s PM nominee has said parties that try to “wash away their sins” by reciting the benefits of secularism should add to their mantra the issue of Article 370 when they refer to Jammu & Kashmir. This is an indication of his bias, not the merits of this particular provision.

Kashmir’s integration with the Indian Union was smoothened due to Article 370’s existence, but over the years its impact has been diluted somewhat as more and more national laws were made applicable to the state.