Consider the following statements Assertion A The constitution gives the Indian states a right to se...........

Indian Polity Union and Its territory

Consider the following statements.

Assertion (A): The constitution gives the Indian states a right to secede from the Union, if they so desire.

Reason (R): The state governments have been instituted autonomously from the Central Government by the Indian constitution.

In the context of the above, which of these is correct?

A is correct, and R is an appropriate explanation of A.

A is correct, but R is not an appropriate explanation of A.

A is incorrect, but R is correct.

Both A and R are incorrect.

The term ‘Federation’ has nowhere been used in the Constitution.
Article 1 describes India as a ‘Union of States’, where states are autonomous units of governance directly established by the constitution.
However, Indian Federation is not the result of an agreement by the states; and no state has the right to secede from the federation.
So, a secessionist movement by a NE state is illegitimate and unconstitutional.
Hence, the Indian Constitution has been variously described as ‘federal in form but unitary in spirit’.