System Engineer IBM | Posted on | others
Will Indian government ever remove Article 370 from Kashmir?
Entrepreneur | Posted on
In his campaigns running to General Election 2014, Narendra Modi did claim that once in power, his government will work to revoke Article 370 from Kashmir. It’s been more than 4 years since he became PM and, unsurprisingly, he has been dead silence on this topic ever since. Indeed, some of the loose-cannon ministers in his office do make controversial (and absurd) remarks here and there in the fantasy of jingoism, no TOP ministers in the Modi government, till now, has taken any strong stance about removing Article 370 from Kashmir. Again, this is not very surprising.
Ever since inception, Kashmir has been one the most controversial topics of independent India. And believe it, until the politics in this country run on the back of “national pride”, the state would remain an issue. And honestly, no political parties have shown a real will to resolve the matter. Kashmir has become a cliched election rhetorical; rather like poverty. During election campaigns, there’s “we will end poverty” and then there is “we will resolve Kashmir problem”. But after the election, neither of them gets resolved.
So, if you’re wondering, if ever Indian government remove Article 370 from Kashmir, a simple answer is NO!!! There’s some serious lack of will. And even if any government does dare to revoke this provision that grants a special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir, they wouldn’t do it fearing the protest from the opposition and political repercussions.
Besides, on a personal note, given the internal situation in the state, removing Article 370 from Kashmir isn’t such a very good idea. There could be a big revolt there, which can literally end up in huge fatalities, disrupting lives. Also, the move can stir a big controversy on the global level, with Pakistan (and its ally China) tossing it on international forums. And as it exists, India’s stance on Kashmir already isn’t very appreciable to the International community. Any experiment with Article 370 can shake the country’s global image.
If the government is really serious about reforms and transformation in Kashmir, they should start by removing AFSPA first. This would help them win the confidence of the local people. And then, with proper consensus, they should move forward to modify the Article 370, if not completely scrap it.
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Social Activist | Posted on
Yes, To end Article 370, there is a need for a two-third majority in the Parliament. It can be removed by passing constitution amendment bill with special majority, i.e. 367 seats in the Lok Sabha and 164 seats in the Rajya Sabha. This work can not be done because it has no two-third majority in either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. Since Modi himself questioned the justification of Article 370 during the election campaign and he got the same mandate for him, at least the government should have initiated debate in parliament on this issue. This would have let the whole country know what their law makers think about giving special status to any particular state.
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