Union Cabinet rejects J&K autonomy resolution

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, JULY 4. The Union Cabinet has rejected as ``unacceptable'' the June 26 resolution (the so-called autonomy resolution) of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, though at the same time committing itself to a greater ``devolution of powers'' to all States. The Cabinet found the June 26 resolution unacceptable because essentially it was ``a plea for restoration of the pre- 1953'' status to the State.

The Cabinet, which met this morning, was unanimous in its judgment that the June 26 resolution could not be accepted, fully or even partially, because it ``would set the clock back and reverse the natural process of harmonising the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir with the integrity of the nation.''

Interestingly enough, the Cabinet chose to detail its response to the June 26 resolution in a statement, released by the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, at a press conference in the afternoon. Mr. Advani pointed out that the State Autonomy Committee report (which the June 26 resolution recommends) questioned the ``very constitutionality'' of the post-1953 developments, including the 42 Presidential Orders passed since then in exercise of Article 370 of the Constitution of India. If the SAC report were to be accepted, these Presidential Orders would be deemed, as per Mr. Advani's understanding, as ``illegal''.

The Home Minister specifically pointed out that the Cabinet statement had noted that the 1975 Sheikh Abdullah-Indira Gandhi agreement carried in it an implicit rejection of the option of the wholesale restoration of the pre-1953 ``constitutional situation'' in Jammu and Kashmir. In particular, the Cabinet statement recorded that the 1975 agreement had affirmed that ``provisions of the Constitution of India already applied to the State of jammu and Kashmir without adaptation or modification are unalterable.''

Striking a stance of reasonableness, Mr. Advani also noted that the 1975 agreement did concede that the State Assembly could request the Centre to rescind certain decisions and laws passed between 1953-1974, and that the Centre was obliged to ``consider sympathetically'' any such request. But there was no scope, according to Mr. Advani, for rendering inapplicable the 42 Presidential Orders. The Home Minister's remarks underlined the irony that while the BJP was now professing itself to be not irrevocably committed to its demand that Article 370 be revoked, the State Autonomy Committee report suggested that this constitutional provision had become the sole cause for erosion of the State's autonomy.

The Cabinet statement insisted that ``the Government is of the firm conviction that national integration and devolution of powers to States must go together.'' Nonetheless, the cabinet talks of its commitment to work for ``wide-ranging devolution of powers to the States that leads to efficiency in administration, acceleration in development and the fullest realisation of the creative potential of all sections of people.'' In other words, the Cabinet posits a linkage between devolution of powers and certain expectations in terms of governance. Specifically about Jammu and Kashmir, the Cabinet wants the people and the State government ``to join hands in the endeavor to address the real problems facing the State: to root out insurgency and cross- border terrorism; and to ensure accelerated development.''

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