Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s nephewon Tuesday said the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution were“promoting disharmony” among the people and needed to be changed. Expressing happinessat the scrapping of provisions of Article 370 that accorded special status toJammu and Kashmir, Justice (retired) Chittatosh Mookerjee said his uncle haddied for this cause and it should have happened long ago.

 “Separate provisionsof Article 370 is promoting and harbouring disharmony among people. So it wasnecessary to change it,” Mookerjee told here.

The 90-year-old said the special provisions were “largelyresponsible” for terrorism and separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Centre had on Monday revoked provisions of Article 370to take away Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, and proposed the bifurcationof the state into two Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.Mookerjee,a former chief justice of the Calcutta High Court and the Bombay High Court,claimed that the abolition of the provisions of Article 370 was not illegal orunconstitutional.

 “This (Article 370)is a temporary provision. It appears in a part of the Constitution, but is notpermanent,” he said.“There is no breach of the Constitution; could be a breachof a promise which might have been made by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (the firstprime minister),” he said.

Mookerjee said circumstances had changed that necessitatedmaking Indian laws applicable in Jammu and Kashmir, but added that whether itwas the appropriate time to do so is entirely a matter of opinion.“Those whoare in BJP, at least they could decide, whether the decision is right or not isa matter of opinion,” he said. “They decide their way, they take theresponsibility.”Mookerjee said Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India during achallenging situation, and under “peculiar” circumstances, these provisionscame into the Constitution.The legal luminary said he was residing with SyamaPrasad Mookerjee in Delhi when the latter had decided to take up the causeagainst the provisions of Article 370 that gave Jammu and Kashmir a specialstatus. Syama Prasad Mookerjee had subsequently resigned from the Nehru cabinetand formed the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the precursor of the present-day BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP).

Citing former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s decision toabolish privy purses to princely states, that acceded to India followingIndependence, Justice (retd) Mookerjee said because the provision was in theInstrument of Accession, it did not mean that it cannot be changed.