Political parties in Punjab, sans SAD-BJP, on Monday condemned the BJP-led Central Government’s decision to revoke Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, which granted “special status” to the border state.
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, terming the decision as “totally unconstitutional”, flayed the manner in which the Centre had imposed its decision on Kashmir saying that the democratic fabric of the nation had been ripped apart with this “unprecedented violation of the Constitutional norms”.
“It is a dark day for the Indian democracy,” said Cap Amarinder, adding that the Constitution of India had been rewritten without following any legal provisions. Such a historic decision should not have been taken and pushed through in this arbitrary manner, he said.
This will set a bad precedent as it would mean that the Centre could reorganise any state in the country by simply imposing President’s rule, the Chief Minister said, adding that the Constitutional provisions had been abused as never before.
None of the stakeholders were taken into confidence, and there was no discussion with other political parties preceding the unilateral decision of the Central Government, the Chief Minister pointed out. The BJP is using its brute majority to bulldoze democratic and constitutional norms, the Chief Minister said.
Chief Minister said that no effort was made to evolve a consensus on this vital matter of national security and concern. “Given the sensitivity of the Kashmir issue, any decision should have been taken after following due process of democratic and legal norms. Even the Presidential order reorganising Jammu and Kashmir and scrapping Article 370 had effectively bypassed the parliamentary requirement for a two-thirds majority through a constitutional amendment,” he pointed out.
He said that the Government had made a total mockery of the constitutional and democratic foundations of the nation.
Dubbing the Centre’s act of putting political leaders in Kashmir under house arrest ahead of the announcement as despotic, he said that the voice of the people had been completely suppressed, which could have serious negative repercussions for India.
Bholath MLA and Punjab Ekta Party (PEP) president Sukhpal Singh Khaira said that the BJP has committed a historical blunder and breach of faith by ending statehood and special status of Kashmir.
He said that BJP Government’s decision to revoke two important sections of article 370 of Indian constitution and erasing Section 35A was an unconstitutional, undemocratic and dictatorial act.
“The Modi-Amit Shah duo has reversed the meaning of democracy through this anti-people decision as the people of Kashmir have been demanding and agitating for autonomy and independence for many decades but instead the BJP government has further curtailed the powers that J&K had been guaranteed by the Constitution,” he said.
At the same time, Khaira questioned the duplicity of the Badals and SAD over such a burning issue facing their brother minority community. “It is saddening to note that Akalis, who once championed the cause of a federal India and autonomy of states, is now supporting a draconian law to snatch the constitutional guarantee provided to J&K and to further reduce it to a municipality by making it a UT,” he said.
Khaira urged Badal to quit the NDA pull out his daughter-in-law from the cabinet and support the cause of J&K and restoration of democracy.
Meanwhile, senior Punjab BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia welcomed the decision. “After 72 years of independence, the dream of Dr Shyama Parsad Mukherjee has been realized in regard to making India as ‘one nation with one constitution, one premier and one flag’,” he said adding that its sole credit goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Modi has scripted the history by integrating the state of Jammu and Kashmir with India in Toto,” he said adding that ‘Modi Hai, Toh Mumkin Hai’.