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Debjit Mukherjee: Article 371 will never be abrogated even if Jammu and Kashmir’s special status is revoked. The Center assured the Supreme Court.
The Center said Article 370 was a temporary article. Jammu and Kashmir was given special status under Article 370 when the Constitution was framed in 1950, but that status was not permanent. That was the provisional provision of the Constitution. The President could cancel it if he wanted. The Modi government withdrew the ‘special status’ in 2019 by using that power of the President. But 371 is a permanent article. It does not contain any provision for repeal as in Article 370. So there is no question of canceling it. In fact, large areas of the North-Eastern states are still affected areas. Along with the constitutional obligation, perhaps that is also one of the reasons why the Modi government has not repealed this clause.
