Jammu, Aug. 25 -- In defence of the special status for Jammu and Kashmir during the Indian Constituent Assembly proceedings, N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar had pointed out that the condition of the State was "not ripe for full integration" and reasoned that a significant degree of autonomy had to be given within the constitutional structure of the Indian Union. He said, "The effect of this Article is that the Jammu and Kashmir State which is now a part of India, will be a unit of the future federal Republic of India."1
It is also a relevant piece of history that Article 370 (then Article 306A) was passed unanimously with only one dissenter. He was interestingly not the Hindu right-wing ideologue, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but Maulana Hasrat Mohani...