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Congress under attack for its good work
Erosion of State's status
3/26/2015 11:45:09 PM
Early Times Report

JAMMU, Mar 26: The Congress on Wednesday came under sharp attack in the Legislative Assembly for al the good work it did in the past to bring the state closer to India and defeat the evil designs of the votaries of greater autonomy and Pakistan. The Congress had between August 1953 and 1994 brought the state under the purview of several central laws and institutions and brought it at par with other states of the Union. The successive Congress governments at the centre had, for example, extended 260 out of 395 Articles of the Indian Constitution, 94 out of 97 entries in the Union List and 26 out of 47 entries in the Concurrent List extended to Jammu and Kashmir. All these extensions integrated Jammu and Kashmir into India to a considerable extent and enabled the people of the state to enjoy some fruits of Indian democracy. Besides, the state was also brought under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, Comptroller and Auditor-General and Election Commission of India during this period. It is also pertinent to mention here that it was during this period that the President of India under Article 370 issued 47 orders to integrate the state into India.
Besides bringing the state under the ambit of 260 central laws, 94 entries in the Union List and 26 entries in the Concurrent List and several central institutions, the Congress government at the Centre had also abolished the obnoxious permit system to enable the people of the state to visit any part of India without any restriction. The abolition of the permit system also enabled the other Indians to visit any part of the state without any restriction. The permit system was abolished in the wake of the death of Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee in mysterious circumstances on June 23, 1953 in a make-shift jail in Srinagar.
Not only this, the Congress government at the centre also abolished the offices of Sadar-e-Riyasat and Wazir-e-Azam and introduced the offices of the Governor and Chief Minister in Jammu and Kashmir. It happened in 1965 during the regime of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. More importantly, the then National Conference Chief Minister GM Sadiq merged the National Conference with the Congress party and brought the state into the national mainstream.
The Congress should have been appreciated in the assembly, but it didn't happen. On the contrary, the protagonists of autonomy for the state attacked the Congress from right and left and accused it of eroding the state's so-called special status. They, in fact, charged the successive Congress governments with "damaging the fiscal federalism of the country" and going beyond the confines of Article 370. "Every erosion of Article 370 happened under the Congress regimes," they said. They said all that the Congress did was unconstitutional. They overlooked the fact that the successive Congress governments at the centre brought the state under the jurisdiction of several central laws and institutions as per the law on the subject. Article 370 says that the centre can introduce central laws or bring the state under the ambit of central institutions with the concurrence of the state government and New Delhi never flouted this requirement.
To say all this is not to suggest that the Congress committed no wrong in the state. It did commit several wrongs, but it must be borne in mind that if the state today is closer to New Delhi, it is also because of the Congress' role. It is intriguing that the BJP, which talks about the state's full merger with India, didn't counter the votaries of Kashmir's autonomy. It appears the BJP has changed its stand on Jammu and Kashmir.
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