One Nation, One Constitution? Forget Jammu & Kashmir. Populism Trumps The Constitution In Four Major Indian States timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Can we consider India to be ‘one nation, one Constitution’ if governments in four major states have either reserved or plan to reserve two-thirds of the jobs both in public and private sectors for only their residents?

For Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra, together comprising almost 30% of India’s geographical area, ‘locals’ are not all citizens of India when it comes to precious jobs. Locals are those who have been living within the boundaries of their states for a certain period. These states want to become gated communities where one of the basic tenets of our Constitution – not discriminating against someone based on place of birth or domicile – does not apply.

As Article 35A of the Constitution has been done away with after abrogation of Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir has lost the power to define who a permanent resident of the state is and who isn’t. But these four states are looking to acquire the same powers that Jammu and Kashmir has lost. One can argue that Article 371 of the Constitution gives similar powers to select states to address historical imbalances and resentments, but we need to ask ourselves if we want to keep adding to this list 73 years after Independence.