On 5 August 2019, the government of India revoked the special status, or autonomy, granted under Article 370 of the Indian constitution to Jammu and Kashmir—a region administered by India as a state which consists of the larger part of Kashmir which has been the subject of dispute among India, Pakistan, and China since 1947.
Among the Indian government actions accompanying the revocation was the cutting off of communication lines in the Kashmir Valley which was restored after 5 months. Thousands of additional security forces were deployed to curb any uprising. Several leading Kashmiri politicians were taken into custody, including the former chief minister. Government officials described these restrictions as designed for preempting violence, and justified the revocation for enabling people of the state to access government programmes such as reservation, right to education and right to information.
The reactions in Kashmir Valley were effectively suppressed through the suspension of communication and with imposition of Curfew (Section 144). People in the Hindu-majority Jammu and Buddhist-majority Ladakh regions welcomed the decision and held celebrations in support of it, however, some opposition was also reported from the Muslims in the latter region. Many nationalists celebrated, declaring the move to herald public order and prosperity in Kashmir. Among political parties in India, the revocation was supported by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and, among others, by the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Aam Aadmi Party, AIADMK, Telugu Desam Party, YSR Congress Party, BJD, Janata Dal (United) and the Shiv Sena. It was opposed by the Indian National Congress, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Trinamool Congress and the DMK.
The president of India issued an order under the powers conferred by Article 367, overriding the prevailing 1954 Presidential Order and nullifying all the provisions granting autonomy to the state. The Home Minister introduced a Reorganisation Bill in the Indian parliament, seeking to divide the state into two union territories, each to be governed by a lieutenant governor and a unicameral legislature. The resolution seeking the revocation of the temporary special status under Article 370 and the bill for the state's reorganisation was debated and passed by the Rajya Sabha, India's upper house of parliament – on 5 August 2019. On 6 August, the Lok Sabha, India's lower house of parliament – debated and passed the reorganisation bill along with the resolution recommending the revocation.
The revocation of special status brought changes to the region’s governance, administration and security policies. It was followed by the implementation of constitutional provisions, new domicile rules, changes in local governance, and a reported decline in stone-pelting. The region also witnessed a rise in tourism, renewed discussions on the restoration of statehood, the region saw increased international engagement, with the United States highlighting Jammu and Kashmir’s importance and considered revising its travel advisory for the region.
Background
Article 370 of the Indian constitution gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir — a state in India, located in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, and a part of the larger region of Kashmir, which has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan and China. The Article conferred power on Jammu and Kashmir to have a separate constitution, a state flag and autonomy over the internal administration of the state. The Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, after its establishment, was empowered to recommend the articles of the Indian constitution that should be applied to the state or to abrogate Article 370 altogether. After consultation with the state's Constituent Assembly, the 1954 Presidential Order was issued, specifying the articles of the Indian constitution that applied to the state. The Constituent Assembly dissolved itself without recommending the abrogation of Article 370, the article was deemed to have become a permanent feature of the Indian Constitution. This article, along with Article 35A, defined that the Jammu and Kashmir state's residents live under a separate set of laws, including those related to citizenship, ownership of property, and fundamental rights, as compared to residents of other Indian states.
Under various Indian National Congress party-led central governments and locally elected state governments — such as those of the National Conference — between 1954 and 2011, India used the provisions of Article 370 to issue presidential orders to extend the Indian constitution to Jammu and Kashmir with the concurrence of the State Government, and reduce the state's autonomy. These past Presidential orders under Article 370 are also controversial and a subject of the Kashmir dispute. Political scientist Sumantra Bose, a Kashmir scholar, sums up the politics of the period 1953–63, during which Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad served as the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in these words: Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed’s term in office lasted a full decade, until October 1963. The sequence of events during that decade strongly suggests a contractual relationship between Bakshi and the government of India, whereby he would be allowed to run an unrepresentative, unaccountable government in Srinagar in return for facilitating IJK’s "integration" with India on New Delhi’s terms. The result was twofold: a crippling of rule of law and democratic institutions in IJK; and an erosion of IJK’s autonomy, achieved (as required by Article 370) with the "concurrence" of IJK’s government—which consisted of a motley clique of New Delhi's client politicians." Further, in Bose's view, the 1954 Presidential order and the subsequent orders began "the end for the Article 370" and it has "effectively been dead in letter and in spirit since that time".
Since the partition of India and Pakistan on religious lines, Hindu nationalist organizations in India, including in Jammu and Kashmir, have stated that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral, inseparable part of India. As in past election manifestos, the Bharatiya Janata Party included the integration of Jammu and Kashmir among its campaign promises for the 2019 Indian general election. The BJP and its allies won a landslide majority in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament. On 5 August 2019, India issued a Presidential order superseding the 1954 order that made all the provisions of the Indian constitution applicable to Jammu and Kashmir. Following the resolutions passed in both houses of the parliament, the President of India issued a further order on 6 August declaring all the clauses of Article 370 except clause 1 to be inoperative.
On 5 August 2019, some political parties of Jammu and Kashmir met at the home of politician Farooq Abdullah and released a joint statement, called the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, that pledged to defend and safeguard the identity, autonomy and special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Legal aspects
Article 370 of the Constitution of India was a 'temporary provision' inserted on 17 October 1949 which gave special powers to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, lawfully authorising it to have its own constitution. Accordingly, the provisions of only Article 1 and Article 370 of the Indian Constitution applied to the state. So, for the Central government to extend the coverage of a central law to the state on subjects included in the Instrument of Accession (IoA), it needed "consultation" while for extending the coverage of laws on other subjects, it needed "concurrence" of the state government. Similarly, Article 35A of the Constitution of India, introduced through a constitutional order in 1954, authorised the state legislature to define 'permanent residents'. Those defined as permanent residents were entitled to property rights, employment, scholarships and other social benefits in the state.
After the 1954 order, forty-seven Presidential orders were issued between 11 February 1956 and 19 February 1994, making various other provisions of the Constitution of India applicable to Jammu and Kashmir. All these orders were issued with the 'concurrence of the Government of the State' without any Constituent Assembly. Some of these Presidential orders were issued when the state was under President's rule and had "no Kashmir government at all", states Jill Cottrell. The effect of the Presidential orders issued between 1954 and 1994 had been to extend 94 of the 97 subjects in the Union List (the powers of the Central Government), and 260 of the 395 Articles of the Constitution of India to the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Government approach
In April 2018, the Supreme Court of India ruled that Article 370 had attained permanency since the state constituent assembly has ceased to exist. To overcome this legal challenge, the Indian government instead rendered Article 370 as 'inoperative' even though it still exists in the constitution. On 5 August, a presidential order was issued – the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019 – which superseded the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954.
The August 2019 Presidential order stated that all the provisions of the Indian Constitution applied to Jammu and Kashmir. This in effect meant that the separate Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir stood abrogated, and a single constitution now applied to all the Indian states. The President issued the order with the "concurrence of the Government of State of Jammu and Kashmir". This in effect meant the concurrence of the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir since President's rule was imposed at that time in the state. The order was issued using the third clause of Article 370, which authorised the President of India to declare the article inoperative with exceptions and modifications, if recommended by the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kasmir (dissolved in 1957) to do so. To circumvent the legal issue of the non-existent state constituent assembly, the President used the Clause (I) of Article 370, which conferred him with the power to modify the Indian Constitution on subjects related to Jammu and Kashmir. So he first added a new clause to Article 367, which deals with interpretation of the Constitution. He replaced the phrase 'Constituent Assembly of the State' with 'Legislative Assembly of the State'. Since the state legislative assembly has been suspended, the order says that any reference to the legislative assembly will be construed as a reference to the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. The governor is an appointee of the Central government. Therefore, the Indian Parliament now functions for the state legislative assembly.
Hence, the Indian Home Minister moved a resolution in the Rajya Sabha to give the President the necessary recommendation he needs to declare Article 370 as inoperative. Subsequently, the statutory resolution seeking the revocation of the special status under Article 370 and the bill for the state's reorganisation was debated and passed by the Rajya Sabha on 5 August 2019 with 125 (67%) votes in its favour and 61 (33%) against it. On 6 August, the bill for the reorganisation was debated and passed by the Lok Sabha with 370 (86%) votes in its favour and 70 (14%) against it, and the resolution recommending the revocation was passed by 351 votes in favour and 72 against.
Petitions against abrogation