Article 370 was against Ambedkar’s ideology of one Constitution: CJI BR Gavai

Chief Justice of India BR Gavai on Saturday said that BR Ambedkar envisioned one Constitution to keep the country united and never favoured the idea of a separate Constitution for any state, PTI reported.

Justice Gavai said that the Supreme Court drew inspiration from Ambedkar’s vision of a united India when it upheld the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370, which had granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre had abrogated Article 370 in August 2019. It also bifurcated the state into two Union Territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

In December 2023, the Supreme Court, with Justice Gavai as a member of the five-judge Constitution bench, upheld the validity of the 2019 order abrogating Article 370 and ordered the Centre to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

“When the hearing was underway, I recalled Dr Babasaheb’s words that one Constitution is suited for a country,” Justice Gavai said while addressing a gathering at the inauguration of the Constitution Preamble Park in New Delhi. “If we want to keep the country united, we need only one Constitution.”

The Chief Justice of India added that Ambedkar had faced criticism, with some people saying that the Constitution’s strong federalism might compromise national unity, especially during wartime....

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