The decision to abrogate Articles 35A and 370 was headed by home minister Amit Shah and a handful of bureaucrats
Bengaluru: You may be speaking to one of your closest friends and even your confidantes about a familiar issue, but you may not be aware that familiar issue would have a mammoth idea masquerading.
A senior official in the Union government was asked about the papers used for presidential orders. He gave his reply, but even in his wildest of dreams, he would not have imagined that the query was related to the abrogation of Articles 35A and 370.
The move to remove the two Articles was given by Jagmohan, a former Union minister and a governor of Jammu and Kashmir and Prime Minister Narendra Modi latched on to it, but did not even give a whiff of the plan to anyone.
But as soon as Amit Shah, his trusted lieutenant, took over the reins of the home ministry, Modi knew how to get it done.
And then, under Shah’s supervision, another trusted confidante AK Doval came into the picture. Along with them, a handful of other bureaucrats like home secretary Rajeev Gauba and chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir BVR Subramanyam also pitched in.
Such was the secrecy under which it was kept that even key ministries were not informed about the move. But the army chief General Bipin Rawat was informed about the possible repercussions and other paramilitary forces were also kept on high alert to thwart any violence.
But in spite of such weighty moves, once there was deployment of thousands of troops in the valley, the media speculated that the abrogation would be done and hit the bull’s eye in this regard.
And going back to the beginning of the story, a small harmless doubt about the type of paper used for presidential order could have led to ‘counting the chickens before they hatch’ kind of situation.
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