Preface
The Indian federal
organization evolved, partly as an expression o the
quest for Indian Unity, the struggle for freedom in
India underlined and partly as a process of the
distribution of political authority among the
constituents of the Indian Dominion, which was brought
into being with the termination of the British
Colonial rule in India. The overriding consideration,
which determined the course of federalization in India
was the anxiety of the founding fathers of the Indian
Constitution to integrate the Indian Provinces and the
Indian states into an inseparable political unity and
accomplish the Revolution of power to allocate an
independent sphere of authority to its constituents,
Provinces as well as the States.
The founding fathers did not
recognize any subnational boundaries, which divided
India, into the denominations of the federal
structure, they devised. The Provinces and the States,
were cultural, linguistic and religious pluralities,
and their political boundaries did not synchronize
with any specific subnational gradients.
The one exception to this
principle, adopted by the framers of the Indian
constitution, was the special position, the Jammu and
Kashmir state was accorded. The Jammu and Kashmir
State was recognized as an autonomous identity, based
upon the Muslim majority character of its population.
The State was not brought within the process of the
integration of the Indian princely States, which
followed their accession to the Dominion of India. The
representatives of the Jammu and Kashmir State,
participated in the deliberations of the Constituent
Assembly of India, but the National Conference which
formed the Interim Government in the State, favored
the exclusion of the State from the constitutional
organization of India. Consequently special
constitutional provisions were embodied in Article 370
of the Constitution of India for the State. The state
was reserved the right to convene a separate
Constituent Assembly was convened in 1951. In November
1956, it completed the task of framing the
Constitution of the State. The Constitution of the
state was brought in to force on 26 January 1957.
The Jammu and Kashmir state
has ever been governed by two sets of constitutional
provisions, the first envisaged by the constitution of
India state. The position of the state, in the Indian
constitutional organization has been determined by the
constitution of India and the instruments of the State
Government have been devised by the constitution of
the state.
The present study is aimed to
trace the process of federalization which led to the
integration of the Indian States into the Indian Union
and the inclusion of special provisions for the Jammu
and Kashmir state. Since Jammu and Kashmir presents a
variant of the federal structure in which the Indian
States were welded, the present study is expected to
provide a perspective for the future evolution of the
federal frames which the founding fathers of the
Indian constitution constructed. In recent years,
there has been an insistent emphasis on the
recognition of subnational diversities of India as
components of the Indian federal system. The present
study, which is focussed on the analysis of the
placement of Jammu and Kashmir, as a subnational
identity in the Indian federal system, reveals much
and can serve as an indicator for any reconsideration
of the federal relations, between the center and the
states in India.
The author is indebted to the
keepers of the Jammu and Kashmir State Archives Jammu,
keepers of the Sapru House Library, New Delhi, and the
keepers of the Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Museum,
Library, New Delhi. The author is thankful to Dr.
Sukhbir Chowdhry of the Indian Council of World
Affairs, Sapru House, New Delhi, Shri T.C. Mor and
Shri
Surinder M. Talwar, for their valuable help.
Mohan Krishen Teng
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