‘PM Modi’s iron will, Shah’s strategy’: Tushar Mehta on Art 370 after SC verdict
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said he was only lawyer involved in the process before August 5, 2019
NEW DELHI: Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who presented the Centre’s arguments on the abrogation of Article 370 in the Supreme Court, hailed the verdict of the five-judge bench and the steps taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah that led to the historic decision on August 5, 2019.
“It is only the iron will of our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji and resolute decisiveness and brilliant strategy of our Hon’ble Home Minister Shri Amit Shahji which made this historical decision possible. The nation will ever remain indebted to them,” Mehta said in a statement released after the bench led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud pronounced its verdict.
“August 5, 2019 and today’s date will go down in the history of India, when a Himalayan constitutional blunder of the past with gigantic proportion was ultimately corrected by the government,” he said.
In three concurring judgments that upheld the abrogation of the constitutional schemes that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the Supreme Court upheld the decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 that extended special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The bench also directed restoration of statehood “at the earliest” as well as elections to the assembly by September 30 next year.
Mehta underlined that he was the only lawyer involved in the process before August 5, 2019, when a presidential order notifying the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order of 2019 was issued and a statutory resolution introduced in the Rajya Sabha that abrogated most of Article 370.
“I have had the good fortune of witnessing and being a part of the entire process which exhibited their (PM Modi and Amit Shah) exemplary resolve coupled with minute coordination of the smallest details and flawless and scientific stewardship of the parliamentary process and floor management inside the House,” the statement said.
Mehta, the government’s second seniormost law officer, also showered praises on the five judges on the bench, saying they were legendary judges who are undisputedly intellectual giants.
“The judicial adjudication by the Hon’ble Supreme Court is also equally historical and rare. A five Judge Constitution Bench decided the matter which consisted of all first five senior-most judges viz. Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, Justice S.K. Kaul, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Bhushan R. Gavai and Justice Surya Kant. A historical bench presided by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India and also comprising of three future Chief Justices of India. All five are legendary judges who are undisputably intellectual giants…,” the solicitor general’s statement said.
Monday’s judgment, he said, 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 resident of J&K irrespective of religion, sex, caste or creed.
The highest court of the country, the most powerful court in the world, has stood by the constitutional values and has secured to all the residents of Jammu and Kashmir their legitimate rights which they were deprived of since independence while taking care of democratic election also.