“There are things you break that can’t be put back together again, and Kashmir may be one of them.”
– Salman Rushdie
The Indian Constitution established the biggest democracy in the world with the aims to achieve holistic national unity and progressive economic development. Over the years, with countless Legislative amendments and numerous Judicial decisions, the constitution has become a home to a matrix of non-derogatory principles
and principles according to which the society is governed. However, the constitution does not remain without a few anomalies and one of such is the special status accorded to the state of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), through constitutional provisions.5
The most prominent provisions relating to this issue are firstly – Article 35A6, this provision authorizes the state legislature of J&K to describe as to who may considered as that state’s ‘permanent residents’. This is done to enable them to exercise certain special rights and. This article was added as part of a Presidential order in 1954 which took the form of an agreement between India and J&K. Secondly there is the existence of Article 3707under the constitution which embodies J&K with a special status. It empowers the State to exercise significant autonomy unlike any other state in the country. Such autonomy has granted the state, a separate constitution for its own governance.
The provision of these articles hence proves to be a paradox within the Indian Constitution. In the early days of the inception of Article 370, the provision was supposed to be of impermanent/ interim nature.8 However, the provisions hold their ground even after countless decades of their construction. The validity of such provision has been challenged on several instances infront of the Supreme Court across the years but the Court has remained static on their stance by always upholding the legitimacy of these provisions.9 Furthermore, all mandates calling for the abolishment of Article 35A and Article 370 have been countered for the restoration of J&K to its position before the accession to India. It is therefore safe to conclude that these Articles are among the most controversial provisions in the Indian Constitution.
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