Article 35A : The real devil in Kashmir

How is paragraph 35 (A) affecting the lives of millions of people?

35 (A) gives authority to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly to make a decision on the citizenship, and rights of the people living there. But on the contrary, it has made lakhs of people refugees.

• In 1947, during the Indo-Pak partition, millions of people came to India as refugees and later became Indian citizens. But this did not happen with people in Jammu and Kashmir. According to one figure, about 5764 Hindu families came here at the time of partition and settled here. But, the irony is that even today, these families are considered as refugees and are deprived of all fundamental rights.

• It has not only happened with families from Pakistan but also to people of Gorkha community who have lived in Jammu and Kashmir for the last several years but are not counted as citizens here.

• The worst happened to those Dalit families who were brought from Punjab in 1957 to work as a sanitation employee. For the past 60 years, these people have been doing the cleaning work and are still not considered permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

• Another major tragedy of 35 (A) is that the children of Kashmiri men who marry non-Kashmiris here get the status of permanent citizens and all rights, while the citizenship of women who marry outside the state is terminated.

The biggest irony remains that all these families are citizens of India but not citizens of Jammu and Kashmir. These people have the right to vote in the Lok Sabha elections but cannot participate in the state assembly and panchayat elections. Children of these families suffer as they do not get admission in the government school and also, cannot be employed in government institutions.

 

How did Article 35 (A) came into existence?

• Article 35 (A) is connected to Article 370. Article 370 gives Jammu and Kashmir privilege which is different from other states. According to Article 370, Parliament has the right to make laws regarding defence, foreign affairs and communication about Jammu and Kashmir but the State Government should approve the implementation of the law related to any other subject.

To include Article 35 (A) in the constitution, the procedure of passing it through Parliament was not followed. The first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru got it signed directly from the President thus bypassing the Parliament. After this, it was added as a provision of Article 370. But the government did not directly mention it in the Constitution, but in the appendix so that it could be saved from the eyes of the people. It is a fraud committed to the country's parliament, citizens and the Constitution.

How to remove Article 35 (A) ?

For making any amendment in the Constitution of India, it needs to be passed from the two Houses of Parliament with a 2/3rd majority, but article 35 (A) was never presented before Parliament, which is a direct violation of the Constitution. Whatever the case may be, the matter is still pending in the Supreme Court and the court has asked the central government to respond to it. Only then will it be able to decide what will happen to this biggest deception with the Constitution of India.

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