Towards a Monist Constitutional Ideology? In Re: Article 370 of the Constitution, Subordination of Jammu and Kashmir, and the Supra-Constitutional Presidential Power

This case comment shows how the fascination for a certain form of a monist constitutional order, first articulated by the opposition during the Nehru years, was institutionalised in the form of a judicial discourse, culminating in the Article 370 judgement. At the heart of this discourse lay two imaginaries: (i) a subordinated Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and (ii) an unbounded or supra-constitutional power vested in the Indian president to deal with J&K, freed of the express conditions precedent laid down in the proviso to Clause 3 of Article 370. In this case comment, I trace the continuities between these monist claims articulated in relation to Article 370 in the early years of the republic and the justifications provided by the Supreme Court for its abrogation.