“Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was the architect of Article 370.” Srinath Raghavan’s account of Kashmir’s history may surprise many Indians. The noted historian was speaking at a lecture organised by Manthan.
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00:00It is worth pointing out that contrary to what is being claimed today, Sardar Patel
00:08was actually the architect of Article 370.
00:37So once the partition plan is announced, the issue of the princely states really comes
00:41to the fore and there is a huge amount of time pressure because this issue has to be
00:45dealt with before 15th of August 1947.
00:48And this is what the Government of India really had to deal with.
00:51And the person who came up with a very simple and straightforward solution to this problem
00:56was the Secretary to the Ministry of States, a man called V.P.
01:00Menon, who worked for the Minister of States, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
01:03So Menon basically said that drawing on a provision in the Government of India Act of
01:071935, we could just ask all states to accede to the Union of India on just three subjects,
01:15foreign affairs, defence and communication.
01:18Now it was on this basis that the accession of most of the states happened before 15th
01:23of August 1947.
01:25It is worth pointing out that contrary to what is being claimed today, Sardar Patel
01:29was actually the architect of Article 370.
01:33Contrary to all these claims about saying, oh, if Vallabhbhai Patel had been dealing
01:36with Kashmir, the entire state would have been ours, he was actually at this point of
01:39time prepared to trade off Kashmir for Hyderabad.
01:42And rightly so.
01:43Hyderabad is, as you all know, is quietly in the middle of heart of India.
01:47And that was to him the most important issue to be dealt with, not Kashmir.
01:51And in fact, this is not a secret.
01:53On 11th of November 1947, when the Indian Army moved into Junagadh, Vallabhbhai Patel
01:59went and made a public speech where he mentions the same point.
02:02And you can all go and read that speech.
02:04It's available in his collected speeches.
02:06He says, we told the Pakistanis that if you can give us Hyderabad, we are willing to give
02:11you Kashmir.
02:12Right?
02:13Article 370 was only about extending other provisions of the Indian constitution to the
02:17state of J&K.
02:18How could the same article be used to change the constitution of that state itself?
02:23Now what this would mean is that if a provision of the Indian constitution was being extended,
02:28the Constituent Assembly of Kashmir had to finally accept it and embody it in the state's
02:33constitution.
02:34Only then the two constitutions could comport with each other.
02:36Right?
02:37Now what this also meant is that once the Constituent Assembly of the J&K state met,
02:43framed the state's constitution and dissolved and proclaimed that constitution, no further
02:48provisions of the Indian constitution could be extended to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
02:52Now it is in this way that an ironclad guarantee was given, or what people assumed ironclad
02:58guarantees back then, about the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
03:03That is how autonomy was given.
03:04What the current attempt and attempts in the past are really about is to say that we need
03:12a nation state which is not just united in the sense of being one unified entity, but
03:18it's also homogenous.
03:19Now that cuts against the fundamental vision of the Indian constitution which has always
03:24catered for lots of asymmetries.
03:26Right?
03:27If you also get excited about Article 370, please go and read Article 371, which makes
03:31similar kinds of asymmetric provisions for a number of other states.
03:34Another argument that is being advanced, and this is what I began with, is that Article
03:38370 somehow led to separatism and insurgency.
03:42You know, actually it's totally the other way around.
03:44It is the diminution, dilution, destruction of Article 370 which paved the way for the
03:48insurgency to happen.
03:50If investment is to happen in Kashmir, you need peace, security and stability to come
03:55in the first place.
03:57If you are not going to have peace, security and stability, believe me, Indian capital
04:01is not going to go to Kashmir.
04:04You know, capitalism can do many things, but nationalism cannot balance out your books.
04:09So, let me just finish by saying that Kashmir is at a very crucial juncture in its history.
04:14And at this point of time, I think it is important for us to understand its real history rather
04:19than swallowing myths, facile arguments and propaganda.