CM meets Dr Jitendra, discusses governance
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was today reported to have assured Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti that he fully supports the ‘Agenda of Alliance’ (AoA) reached between PDP and BJP before formation of coalition Government in Jammu and Kashmir, which among other issues calls for maintaining status quo on Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which guarantees special status to the State.
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“The Prime Minister has given ‘100 per cent assurance’ that he would back the Agenda of Alliance,” Mehbooba claimed before reporters in New Delhi after meeting Modi for about half an hour in his Parliament House office this afternoon.
Mehbooba later also had detailed discussions on host of issues concerning Jammu and Kashmir with Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh.
The Chief Minister also paid a courtesy call to President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan and congratulated him on assuming the new post. Kovind had visited Srinagar during campaigning for the post of President. PDP headed by Mehbooba had supported Kovind in the elections.
Sources told the Excelsior that after meeting the Prime Minister, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the Minister of State in the PMO, Mehbooba gave up the plan to meet some Opposition leaders including AICC (I) president Sonia Gandhi and Janata Dal (U) leader Sharad Yadav among others as she was reportedly satisfied with the Central leaders’ response on Article 35A. She had reached New Delhi yesterday and met Rajnath. Before leaving for New Delhi, she had also briefed Governor NN Vohra in Srinagar on her party’s stand on 35A.
RSS think tank has challenged Article 35A in the Supreme Court, which defines State Subject Law of the State.
Responding positively to the concerns and apprehensions raised by Mehbooba Mufti with regard to Article 35A of the Constitution of India, Modi assured the Chief Minister that ‘Agenda of Alliance’ agreed upon between PDP and BJP should form the basis of any discussion on the State. The Prime Minister also reaffirmed the successful implementation of ‘Agenda’ in the State during tenure of present Government,” an official handout issued by the State Government after Modi-Mehbooba meeting, said.
The official handout re-produced the Agenda of Alliance between PDP and BJP, which states: “while recognizing different positions and appreciating perceptions of BJP and PDP have on the Constitutional status of J&K considering political and Legislative realities, the present position will be maintained on all Constitutional provisions pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir including the special status in the Constitution of India”.
Sources said Mehbooba Mufti, who is also the PDP president reportedly conveyed to the Prime Minister that if Article 35A of the Constitution of India is quashed, Article 370 will be rendered redundant. She wanted the Prime Minister assuring people of Jammu and Kashmir that there will be no tinkering with Article 35A, which can have negative impact on situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sources said the Prime Minister is reported to have assured the Chief Minister that he stands by the `Agenda of Alliance’, which was reached between PDP and BJP before formation of their first-ever coalition Government in Jammu and Kashmir in 2015.
Mehbooba, however, didn’t give a direct reply to a question by the reporters as to whether the Prime Minister had given an assurance on safeguarding the Constitutional status quo for the State.
The very basis of the Agenda of Alliance in the State was that no one would try and alter Article 370. The Agenda was based on a foundation that the status of Article 370 can’t be altered or fiddled with… so none of us (PDP-BJP) can go against that,” Mehbooba said in response to repeated questions on whether she had got an assurance from Modi on supporting the State Government on Articles 35A and 370.
Pressed further on the issue, she said, “The Prime Minister has given 100 per cent assurance for the Agenda of Alliance.”
She also said that Modi had given a “very positive” response to the issues raised in the meeting.
Mehbooba said the law and order situation had worsened last year. “When the wounds of last year are getting healed, discussions on Article 35A leave a negative impact on the people. After all Jammu and Kashmir is an important part of this nation… When someone is trying to come out of troubled waters, we are pushing him back (by such debates on Article 35A),” Mehbooba said.
Disclosing that she informed Modi that people feel their identity is at stake if Article 35A is tinkered, the Chief Minister said the Centre should give a message on maintaining the State’s special status.
“After all Jammu and Kashmir, despite being a Muslim majority State, rejected the two-nation theory and joined with India so that the identity of its people was protected and I think their identity should always be protected,” she asserted.
The Chief Minister said she had told the Prime Minister about the difficult situation in Jammu and Kashmir and also that the situation was improving gradually.
“Jammu and Kashmir has the peculiar diversity where everything is different. It is a Muslim majority State. Hindus also live, Sikhs and Buddhists also live. Seeing that, there is a special position of Jammu and Kashmir… The idea of India has to accommodate the idea of Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.
Sources said Mehbooba brought to the notice of the Prime Minister, the sentiments of the people of the State attached to special position and apprehensions created in their minds amidst debate on abrogation of Article 35A. She pointed out that such debates create negative impact on the situation, which has been stabilizing with the efforts of Centre and State Governments. She added that such debates and demands only vitiate atmosphere in the State and the country as a result of which people suffer immensely.
Later, Mehbooba also met Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Dr Jitendra Singh, a Lok Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir, and discussed with him the issue of governance, developmental works in the State, apart from Article 35A. They had detailed discussions for about half an hour on host of issues confronting the State.
Mehbooba had yesterday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and aired same issue of Article 35A with him seeking steps to protect and defend the Article.
Article 35A, which empowers Jammu and Kashmir Legislature to define the State’s “permanent residents” and their special rights and privileges, was added to the Constitution by a Presidential order in 1954.
Article 370 grants special autonomous status to the State.
The controversy erupted in 2014 after an NGO filed a PIL in the Supreme Court seeking that Article 35A be struck down.
While the State Government contested the petition, saying the President had the power to incorporate a new provision in the Constitution by way of an order, the Centre, recently, expressed its reservations.
Officials in the Home Ministry had said yesterday that its law officers would be presenting legal aspects related to Article 35A only and would refrain from joining the case.
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