Abrogation of Article 370 a national issue, not political: VP Naidu

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said that abrogation of Article 370 was a national issue and not a political one while calling upon the people to speak in one voice on the issue.

Speaking at a 'Meet and Greet' orgsed by the Vice President's friends and well-wishers on the completion of two years in office, Naidu also cautioned that any fragmented opinion on the issue could be misused by Pakistan at international fora.

"Article 370 was only a temporary and transitory provision in the Constitution and its dilution would lead to industrialisation of Jammu and Kashmir, create employment and promote tourism," he said.

Pointing out that the Bill on reorgsation of Jammu and Kashmir was passed by a two-third majority in the Rajya Sabha and four-fifth in the Lok Sabha, the Vice President recalled the debate which took place in 1964 on a private member's bill when members cutting across the party lines had called for its abrogation.

Quoting a news report published by a national daily in 1964, Naidu said that the non-official resolution moved by Prakash Vir Shastri in Lok Sabha was supported by several members of Congress including Bhagavat Jha Azad, Sarjoo Pandey (CPI), K Hamunathaiah, H V Kamath (Socialist) and also members from Jammu and Kashmir.

He also said that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had pointed to the transitory and temporary nature of the provision in the Constitution during a debate in Parliament in 1963.

Underlining that India as the largest parliamentary democracy, should also become an ideal and vibrant democratic country, Naidu stressed the need to bring in reforms in legislature, executive and judiciary for improving efficiency in the delivery of public services and to ensure that the fruits of development reach every section of the society.

Naidu called upon all the political parties to evolve a code of conduct for their public representatives at various levels including in Parliament and state Assemblies.

The Vice President advocated the constitution of special judicial tribunals for quick and time-bound disposal of criminal cases against politicians, election petitions and political defections. He said that cases in all these categories must be disposed within a reasonable time frame of six months to one year.

Naidu called for plugging the loopholes in the 10th Schedule of the Constitution that deals with defections and stressed the need for the presiding officers to take action on defection cases in a stipulated time of three months.

He advocated setting up of Courts of Appeal and Supreme Court Benches in various parts of the country for speedy disposal of various cases.

( With inputs from ANI )