There were a couple of legal technicalities that were repeated ad infinitum about the abolition of Article 370 by those opposed, which could have seemed significant to some. It was on this basis that they had approached the Supreme Court with the help of the same set of lawyers that have attempted in the past to embarrass the present Modi Government on several issues. It goes to the credit of the five-member SC bench under Chief Justice DY Chandrachud that it saw through the facile legal trickery and addressed the crux of the matter. The power of the President to abrogate Article 370 even after the dissolution of the J&K Constituent Assembly has unambiguously been upheld.
This has come as a blow for those who have considered J&K as a special entity whose accession to India is ‘conditional’, thereby claiming an autonomy of sorts. The previous governments of India allowed this state of affairs to exist, clouded as their judgement was by the ‘Muslim’ majority argument. This not only meant discrimination against scheduled castes, Sikhs, and other communities, but also trapped the ‘majority’ sections in a limited identity. The discrimination against women married to men from outside the state was also one consequence of this mindset. Thankfully, the clarity of the present government on this issue has helped establish, once again, the principle of sovereignty resting only with the Union of India.
Pakistan, the separatist elements and the parties that benefited from this isolation will, of course, have their own take on the decision. There was the hope that the SC would become ‘politicised’ when considering the matter, but when push came to shove, cold reality has prevailed. The decision will certainly have an impact on POK and the internal politics of Pakistan. Beset as it is by various security challenges, the establishment in that country may choose to place the issue in cold storage. It will be harder for the jihadis to stir up emotions among ‘impressionable’ youth to act against the solidarity displayed by the Indian system.
J&K’s local parties will be the most severely impacted as they functioned on the basis of the separate identity cause, manipulating public opinion by promoting a sense of insecurity and alienation. It will take time, but the common citizen and local politics will mature to a level where the unnecessary crutches of ‘separateness’ will no longer be required. There are other ways in the Constitution to protect community and regional interests that they can utilise if they so desire.