Back in 1964, did you know many Congress MPs had wanted scrapping of Article 370

New Delhi, Aug 10: Did you know that a majority in the Congress wanted Article 370 to be scrapped?

This dates back to the year 1964, when a Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha urging that Article 370 be done away with. Those who sought for the abrogation said that 370 be done away with in the interest of complete integration of the state with the rest of the country.

HT had reported in its edition dated September 12 1964 that a unanimous demand for Kashmir's full integration with India and a form declaration by the government about the irrevocability of the State's accession was made by the members in the Lok Sabha during an inconclusive discussion on a private member's Bill seeking to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution.

The report also added that the Bill found unexpected support from the Congress members who, together with members of the Opposition, pleaded that the time had come to end the uncertainty about the State's future.

Ram Manohar Lohia, Sarojini Mahishi of the Congress along with Abdul Ghani Goni and N H Samnani, who were Kashmir leaders supported the abrogation. The Bill was debated inconclusively in the Lok Sabha.

Since then, there have been demands from various quarters to abrogated the Section that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

However last week, both Houses of Parliament passed the Bill and also decided that Jammu and Kashmir will be bifurcated into two Union Territories. 351 members voted in support of the Bill, while 72 opposed it and 1 abstained. The Bill relating to Its was passed by the Lok Sabha, with the backing of 370 members. 70 voted against the move.

On Friday, President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019.

The government set the date as October 31, the birthday of Sardar Vallabhai Patel as the date for the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to come into being.

After the President gave his assent, the Union Home Minister issued a notification stating, "in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (a) of section 2 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 (34 of 2019), the Central Government hereby appoints the 31st day of October 2019, as the appointed day for the purposes of the said Act," the Home Ministry notification said.