Biggest losers will be Dogras of Jammu, Buddhists of Ladakh, says Owaisi

Hyderabad: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday said the biggest losers of the Union's decision to abrogate Article 370 will be the Dogras of Jammu and Buddhists of Ladakh, who will have to face demographic change. He responded to the Supreme Court verdict upholding the Centre's decision to abrogate Article 370 on X (formerly Twitter). "The biggest losers of the Union's decision will be the Dogras of Jammu and Buddhists of Ladakh, who will have to face demographic change," he said. He asked as to why there is no timeline on the reinstatement of statehood.

"It's already been five years of Delhi rule in J&K. Assembly elections should be held in the state at the earliest. Along with Lok Sabha elections in 2024," he said. There was no doubt that the state is an integral part of India, but being an integral part does not mean that it did not have a distinct constitutional relationship with the Union, he claimed. "This constitutional relationship was made permanent after the dissolution of the constituent assembly of Kashmir," he said. He alleged that once the Centre's decision on abrogation of Article 370 is legitimised, there is nothing stopping the Union Government from making Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad or Mumbai a Union Territory. "I have said it once and I will say it again.

Once this has been legitimised, there is nothing stopping the union govt from making Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad or Mumbai a Union Territory," he said. Citing the example of Ladakh, Owaisi said it is being ruled by Lt. Governor, with no democratic representation at all. Article 370 was abrogated without any public deliberation taking place in Kashmir and without an elected legislative assembly in place, he alleged. Owaisi quoted the Chief Justice of India (CJI) having said at a seminar in 2019 that "public deliberation will always be a threat to those who achieved power in its absence." "The question is whether you can abrogate the special status of a state by putting the whole state in curfew, while it is subject to Article 356, and without an elected legislative assembly in place? Who in Kashmir had the right to deliberate on August 5?," he said.

The Supreme Court in the Bommai judgement had said that federalism is part of the basic structure of the constitution. "Federalism means that the state has its voice and in its area of competence, it has complete freedom to operate. How is it that Parliament can speak in place of the Assembly? How is it that Parliament can pass a resolution that was to be passed by the Assembly in the constitution?" he said. For him, Owaisi said, the manner in which Article 370 was abrogated was a violation of constitutional morality.

Even worse, the abrogation, bifurcation and downgrading of the state to union territory is "a grand betrayal of the solemn promise that the Union of India had made to the people of Kashmir," he claimed. The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously upheld the Centre's decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 bestowing special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and directed restoration of statehood "at the earliest" as well as elections to the assembly by September 30 next year.