Amit Shah takes charge

Home Minister Amit Shah is the centre of attraction in political circles nowadays. His followers have started drawing the road map beyond Modi for the next ten years. Sources disclosed that a meticulous plan to take over after Modi is being worked out. Amit Shah has proved his mettle in politics but he has to demonstrate his administrative capabilities as Home Minister of India. His immediate priority is to deal with Jammu and Kashmir. Sources disclosed that idea is to trifurcate the state into three regions, viz Ladakh, Jammu and Srinagar. One school of thought is to create autonomous bodies of all three regions and run the administration through administrators surpassing the legislators. The J&K assembly has to be constituted on or before March 2021, so one has to see how long President’s Rule can be imposed in the state. Another plan is to constitute a Delimitation Commission to reconstitute the constituencies in the state, which is a controversial issue and could have legal repercussions. Before Amit Shah moves on to decide the fate of Article 370, the BJP and RSS is keen to clear the mist on the issue of Article 35A of the Constitution. Article 35A gives the Jammu and Kashmir Legislature carte blanche to decide who are ‘permanent residents’ of the State and confers on them special rights and privileges in public sector jobs. There is more on Amit Shah’s plate. The Naxal issue is critical. And before Amit Shah and the RSS moves on the Ram Mandir issue, they have to win Haryana, Maharashtra and the Delhi Assembly elections. It appears Amit Shah will remain BJP President till the year end. It’s going to be interesting six months for sure.