The Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir will strengthen security, safety and integrity of India and should not be viewed through any other narrow prism.
“We are not a new nation and we should evolve a consensus on larger national issues. We should also avoid partisanship and petty politicking on issues of national interests. This is the need of the hour,” said Naidu while delivering first Balramji Dass Tandon Memorial Lecture at Panjab University here.
Tandon had served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab in 1969-70 and was appointed the Governor of Chhattisgarh in July 2014. He died on August 14 last year.
Speaking on the issue of scrapping of the special powers given to Jammu & Kashmir under Article 370, the Vice-President said, “The State of Jammu & Kashmir has always been integral part of our country and it would remain so.”
Notably, the Central Government had on August 5 revoked Article 370 (3) of Jammu & Kashmir that granted special constitutional status on the State, bifurcating it (State) into two Union Territories (UTs) — J&K with a legislature and Ladakh without one.
The Vice-President bemoaned that a section of the western media was indulging in false propaganda on the situation in Kashmir post dilution of Article 370.
He also cited a news article published by a national daily in 1964 highlighting that MPs cutting across party lines were in favour of abrogation of Article 370. He added Parliament took the decision that this transitory provision needs to go and Jammu & Kashmir must be fully integrated with the rest of India.
“It is expected that this will pave way for faster development of Jammu & Kashmir in coming years. People across the country are rejoicing over the abrogation of Article 370,”
he added.
On the occasion, the Vice-President also praised Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for asking Pakistan Minister Fawad Chaudhary, who made a provocative tweet on the Indian Army, to not try to interfere in India’s
internal matter.
Capt had said the Indian Army is a disciplined and nationalist force, warning Islamabad against continued attempts to interfere on the Kashmir issue.
“Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has said ‘we all are one and the country is ready to face any situation’. I read his statement today and I was very happy about it. This is the time when we should learn to be united and Punjab CM has given a good example of that,” Naidu said.
Calling for a need to tone up administration, speed up judicial reforms and promoting healthy, constructive and meaningful debates in legislatures and Parliament, the Vice President said, “Discuss, debate and decide…. decentralize and deliver should become the agenda and the way forward for public representatives.”
He also called upon political parties to adopt a code of conduct for people’s representatives including MPs and MLAs for effective functioning of Parliament and State Assemblies.
Naidu said that the legislature, the executive and the judicial processes must become more people-friendly.
He also stressed the need for taking immediate steps to reduce heavy pendency at courts. In order to streamline and make justice delivery more effective, the Vice President suggested time bound decisions on election petitions and criminal cases against sitting MPs and MLAs, including disqualification under the anti-defection law.
Naidu also suggested revisiting the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, containing anti-defection provisions, to ensure a time bound disposal of such cases and make it more effective by plugging loopholes.
He said that expanding the Supreme Court bench and having separate benches in different regions on trial basis as suggested by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice would help address the problem of pendency in judiciary and would save huge amount of money and energy of litigants who travel miles to reach Delhi.