Kashmir constitution an aberration, top Indian official says

New Delhi: National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Wednesday sparked a controversy after saying Jammu and Kashmir’s (J & K) separate constitution is an “aberration” in the constitutional scheme of the Union of India.

He said the sovereignty of the country could never be compromised.

“The sovereignty of India cannot be diluted and ill-defined. When the British left, they probably did not want to leave India as a strong sovereign state,” Doval said while launching a book on the life of leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Patel ensured that the princely states at the time of independence merged under one Constitution and one flag. Kashmir, which was then ruled by Hindu king Hari Singh, had refused to merge with India.

“Probably with Jammu and Kashmir, where the Constitution was in a truncated form, another constitution of J & K continued to exist, which is aberration,” former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Doval said.

His statement comes at a time when the Supreme Court (SC) is hearing pleas challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35-A of the Constitution, which provides special rights to permanent residents of J & K.

Doval said nation building was an exothermic process that generated a lot of heat.

“Unless that heat is generated it is not able to have that melting point in which all the different identities can merge and become one identity. Probably the heat was not sufficiently generated during our Independence movement because of the route that was taken. I am not criticising that. Non-violence was the route in which the cost of independence was not really understood by our people,” he stated.

Praising Patel, Doval said the leader succeeded in laying the foundation of a nation-state.

“Sardar Patel was able to lay the foundation of a nation-state. And in nation-state, there was one law, one Constitution. Sovereignty can never be divided or diluted,” he said.

Reacting to Doval’s statement, National Conference (NC) leader Mustafa Kamal demanded that the Narendra Modi-government take note of Doval’s remarks.

“If the central government does not take notice, it will be proved that Doval is saying this at the behest of the government,” Kamal said in J & K capital Srinagar.

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Rafi Ahmad Mir described Doval’s statement as “irresponsible.”

“I think for a person in such a responsible position, Ajit Doval’s statement is irresponsible. Remarks like this are altering the mindsets of the general public about Kashmir,” Mir said.