The Modi-Shah duo planned the historic August 5, 2019 removal of Article 370 extremely smartly and covertly in a step by step manner from the day they joined hands with PDP almost four years back to form a coalition government in J&K.
This was severely criticised by the opposition and many Modi bhakts too.
Take a few minutes and read this to know how brilliant Modi government’s strategy was.
Step One
Form the government with PDP on the pretext of obeying the mandate of people in J&K to investigate and understand in minute details all the inner secrets of governance in J&K since 1954.
Once they had all the details, BJP withdrew the support from PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti-led government.
This was the most important decision so that the power to consent to any bill could be transferred to the governor!
Step Two
Presidential order to transfer the power of J&K assembly to Indian Parliament was passed in 2018 itself using the power of President under Article 356.
Step Three
To validate it further and remove any objection from opposition parties through the Supreme court, a new SC/ST amendment was brought in and passed using this power and as expected HC or SC courts did not or could not say anything but agree.
Step Four
Now that SC/ST bill was validated, the power of Governor became unquestioned in any court. Using the precedent of 1952, the power of constituent assembly was transferred to the state assembly, and the power of state assembly had already been granted to the Governor of J&K in 2018.
The trap was laid way back in June 2018 itself when BJP pulled out of the coalition collapsing the assembly for the Governor to take over.
When Ajit Doval and his intelligence team made the Governor aware of serious efforts being made by the opposition to form a coalition in J&K, Governor dissolved the assembly.
So, the assembly’s solution to prompt old dynasties from taking back J&K rule was part of an overall game plan.
The alliance with PDP was only held on until all the above conditions were being crystallised.
Summary Of The Game Plan
- Form government in J&K to dissolve it at the appropriate time.
- Withdraw support to empower the governor.
- Bring in the dissolution of the assembly and President’s rule in J&K
- Use Article 356 to empower J&K’s governor to take on the rights of the dismissed J&K Parliament.
- Validate the power of Governor from SC after they ratify the new SC/ST bill amendment.
- Use 1952 precedent to transfer power to the J&K assembly, which in turn got transferred to the J&K Governor.
- President declares his right to abrogate 370 and simultaneous bills to make 370/35A toothless and powerless on our constitution. The bill is passed in Rajya Sabha on August 5, 2019, and Lok Sabha on August 6, 2019, both by a two-third majority!
Impossible was made possible after 72 years by Modi-Shah-Doval giving a stinging slap to all those who dared this trio to remove Article 370.
As to why bifurcation of J&K and Ladakh was done instead of trifurcation as conjectured by various experts, here is the possible explanation:
In the Instrument of Accession signed by Maharaja Hari Singh in 1947/48 with Union of India, it mentions ‘Jammu and Kashmir’ Ladakh was probably not even mentioned! (Someone ratify this!)
The entity, ‘Jammu and Kashmir’ must exist as one state because POK was part and parcel of J&K in 1947/48 when the Instrument of Accession was signed.
In future as and when India claims or demands PoK, this signed IoA would be needed to show that accession was for entire J&K that included the POK.
The timing was crucial in BJP’s withdrawal from the coalition government. They withdrew just a year before general elections. Now, they just had to wait till election commission announced the date of the general election.
But J&K parties began the formation of a coalition to fight in the state election. But before this could happen, BJP and the Governor of J&K stopped them in their tracks. However, the early dissolution of assembly created another problem. Now the opposition could force to hold J&K elections concurrent with the general election. Election Commission, however, did not relent. And the home ministry rightly raised the security issues, and elections in J&K were postponed. The power remained with the Governor.
Mehbooba Mufti understood this game so did Omar Abdullah, and the Congress think tanks.
Now, there was no threat to the power of the Governor until J&K elections for legislature would be announced.
Time was ripe to pass the SC/ST amendment bill and 10% reservation for EWS for J&K too! This established power of the governor even further!
In this bill, the Governor’s consent was construed as the consent of the state assembly.
Now, SC cannot reject any petition against 370 because they have already accepted the powers of the Governor being same as the dismissed assembly.
It seems now that the PIL lawyers, the Congress Party lawyers won’t be able to convince Supreme Courts judges to backtrack from their earlier decision.
Finally, all the Judicial activists of India will hardly find any loopholes in the Chanakya Niti of Modi-Shah and Doval including their point men in J&K such as Ram Madhav and legal eagles like Subramaniam Swamy.
For almost 13 months BJP has cleverly managed the media, the opposition, the Judiciary and even the naysayers within their own rank with elan and of course total silence.
All of us are really amazed at the brilliant minds of BJP behind this strategy.
While everyone was speculating the future of J&K, BJP was quietly acting as a rock-solid wall between NC, PDP and Congress forming an alliance. Their sole aim was to delay the coalition as much as possible until August 5, 2019, was successfully executed.
Even if Mehbooba wanted a coalition with Omar, BJP made sure that they fall short of numbers. Sajjad Lone was another division within the parties against 370 along with separatists, who delayed the formation of a coalition seeking a more prominent role in government if the alliance was to win.
And finally, the master trump card was that Article 370 is NOT removed entirely.
Rather, it has been made toothless and powerless like a poisonous snake. Therefore, no constitutional amendment was required to remove it.
If questions were to be asked regarding legal or constitutional fault in this process, Constitution expert Shri Subhash Kashyap ji on #Article370 said:
“I can only say, constitutionally it is sound, no legal & constitution fault can be found in it. Govt has carefully studied the matter.
As for the question, if it’s a political decision, I have nothing to say on that.”
New history has been written and all 115+ crore nationalists are celebrating this from KASHMIR to KANYAKUMARI!