Article 35A hampers development in J&K, says Arun Jaitley

SRINAGAR, (PTK): Finance minister Arun Jaitley said in a blog that the “constitutionally vulnerable” Article 35A has denied the people of the state of Jammu & Kashmir a booming economy, economic activity and jobs, even as he cautioned Opposition parties in the state for being “being soft in criticizing separatism”.

He also said most Indians believe that the Nehruvian course, which the State had embarked, was a “historical blunder”

Jaitley wrote that Article 35A was “surreptitiously included” in the Indian Constitution in 1954 and the law allows the State Government to discriminate between citizens. He pointed out that millions of Indians in J&K vote in Lok Sabha elections but not in other polls. “Their children cannot get government jobs. They cannot own property and their children cannot get admitted to governmental institutions. The heirs of ladies marrying outside the State are disinherited from owing or inheriting property,” he added.