New Delhi: A “Himalayan constitutional blunder” was reversed on 5 August, 2019, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta said Monday after the Supreme Court upheld the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370, which gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
On that day, both houses of Parliament passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, which split the former state into two distinct Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
After a five-judge Constitution bench delivered the order Monday morning, the senior central government law officer said in a statement: “5th August, 2019 and today’s date will go down in the history of India, when a Himalayan constitutional blunder of the past with gigantic proportion is ultimately corrected by the government.”
Mehta argued the case for the government against a batch of petitions that had challenged the abrogation of Article 370 and the erstwhile state’s bifurcation.
The Solicitor General said Monday was a “historical day” for him too as he was the “only lawyer involved in the process of abrogation of Article 370” and the one who led arguments in the ensuing case.
Modi’s ‘iron will’; Shah’s ‘brilliant strategy’
The lawyer praised the “iron will” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the “resolute decisiveness and brilliant strategy” of Union Home Minister Amit Shah that enabled the 2019 move. “The nation will ever remain indebted to them,” Mehta said.
Mehta also said the “soul of Sardar Patel” would be happy that Article 370 was gone, since the country’s first home minister had opposed its integration in the Constitution.
Lastly, he lauded the apex court bench that delivered the landmark judgment Monday, calling them all “intellectual giants”. The bench was led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, and comprised justices S.K. Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, Bhushan R. Gavai and Surya Kant.
The solicitor general added that the judicial adjudication was equally “historical and rare”.
“Very patient hearing given to all sides for more than three weeks. And today comes a judgment which will go down in the history of this great country exhibiting astounding scholarship, concern for rule of law and a visible concern for the fundamental rights of equality of every citizen of J&K irrespective of religion, sex, caste or creed,” he said in his message.
Akshat Jain is a student at the National Law University, Delhi, and an intern with ThePrint.
Also read: ‘Culmination of integration’ — SC upholds abrogation of Article 370 that gave J&K special status