Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 17: Amidst raging controversy over Article 35A of the Constitution of India, whose validity is likely to be referred to Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, the State Government has decided to depute a four-member Ministerial delegation to New Delhi to mobilize legal and other support for the Article, which defines State Subjects of Jammu and Kashmir.
The visit of four member-delegation, all of whom were Cabinet Ministers, comes just a week after Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s three-day tour of New Delhi during which she had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister of State in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh and BJP general secretary, Incharge Jammu and Kashmir, Ram Madhav seeking support for continuation of Article 35A citing that it was part of the `Agenda of Alliance’ reached between PDP and BJP before formation of the Government.
The delegation, which could take up its New Delhi sojourn shortly, was likely to include Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu, Law and Rural Development Minister Abdul Haq Khan, Horticulture Minister Basharat Bukhari and Information and Consumer Affairs, Civil Supplies and Food Minister Choudhary Zulfikar.
Dates for the delegation’s visit to New Delhi are being finalized, sources said.
Official sources told the Excelsior that there will be no BJP member in the delegation due to divergent stand of the party on Article 35A. In view of this, they said, all four members of the delegation belonged to the PDP as BJP Ministers had refused to be part of the delegation saying though they were committed to Agenda of Alliance, they can’t come out openly in support of Article 35A as the BJP had been opposing State Subject Law of the State for past quite some time and wants it to be scrapped.
Even there had been reports that it was RSS think tank, which has challenged validity of Article 35A in the Apex Court.
Political observers admitted that notwithstanding the BJP and PDP’s commitment to Agenda of Alliance, divergent views persisted among the two coalition partners on Article 35A as the BJP was not ready to dilute its stand. The BJP leaders, who were not part of the Government, were openly advocating scrapping of Article 35A, the observers maintained.
Sources said the State Government delegation, during its visit to New Delhi, could meet senior Ministers in Narendra Modi Government including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, a legal expert, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP pointman on Jammu and Kashmir, Ram Madhav, some senior leaders of the opposition and some prominent lawyers.
“The State Government is planning to hire some prominent lawyers to plead its case in support of Article 35A in the Supreme Court. In this context, the State delegation of Ministers could approach lawyers to engage them on behalf of the Government,” sources said.
The delegation, according to sources, in their meetings with the Central leaders could explain to them the consequences Jammu and Kashmir could face in the event of scrapping of Article 35A of the Constitution. The State delegation would also like the Centre Government Advocates to defend Article 35A.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on August 11 had claimed that the PM had assured her of his commitment towards Agenda of Alliance in which both the parties had called for maintenance of status quo on Article 370 of the Constitution of India. Mehbooba had also met Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh and BJP pointman on Jammu and Kashmir, Ram Madhav in New Delhi during her three-day visit to the Union capital from August 10-12 to mobilize support for Article 35A.
Sources said the State Government delegation would take the follow-up action after Mehbooba’s three-day visit to New Delhi.
Though Mehbooba Mufti, who also happened to be the PDP president, had confined her visit to Central Ministers and BJP leaders, sources didn’t rule out the possibility of State Government’s Ministerial delegation also meeting some senior Opposition leaders during their stay in the Union capital to garner their support for Article 35A.
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