* Central rule in J&K for eighth time*
Prof Hari Om
JAMMU: J&K has been witnessing Governor/President Rule at regular intervals since 1977. The Governor’s rule was first imposed in J&K on March 17, 1977, when Lakshmi Kant Jha was the Governor. J&K remained under the Governor Rule for 114 days (March 17, 1977 to July 9, 1977). The Governor’s Rule had to be imposed because Congress withdrew its support to the Sheikh Abdullah-led government, which, according to the then PM Indira Gandhi, had become “a threat to national security”. Significantly, it was Indira Gandhi herself who had brought back the deflated Sheikh to power on February 24, 1975 under the 1974 Accord between her and the Sheikh after bringing down her own Congress party’s Mir Qasim-led government.
J&K again was brought under the Governor/President Rule on March 6, 1986, when Jagmohan held the office of Governor. The Governor’s Rule continued for 246 days (Mar 6, 1986-Nov 7, 1986). Again, the Governor’s rule had to be imposed because Congress withdrew its support to the Ghulam Muhammad Shah-led coalition government. GM Shah, son-in-law of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and brother-in-law of Farooq Abdullah, had toppled the government headed by Farooq Abdullah on April 26, 1984 with the support of 26 Congress MLAs and 12 NC defectors. PM Rajiv Gandhi brought down the GM Shah-led government on the ground that it posed a threat to national security like his mother PM Indira Gandhi had ensured the collapse of the Farooq Abdullah-led government on April 26, 1894 for the same reason (threat to national security).
J&K brought under the Governor/President Rule for the third time on January 19, 1990 and it continued till October 9, 1996. In other words, J&K remained under the Governor/President Rule for six years and 264 days. Jagmohan imposed it and Gen KV Krishna Rao revoked it. J&K remained Governor/President Rule because CM Farooq Abdullah fled away to UK on January 19, 1990 to escape the Kashmiri wrath. Secessionist and communal violence gripped Kashmir in 1987 after NC and Congress rigged the assembly elections wholesale to capture state power. J&K never witnessed peace after that subversion of electoral process.
J&K witnessed Governor’s rule for the fourth time for a period of 15 days (October18, 2002 to November 2, 2002). The reason: Farooq Abdullah refused to function as caretaker CM as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress took time to manage the required numbers for forming coalition government. Farooq Abdullah’s NC had suffered a humiliating defeat in the October 2002 assembly polls with PDP breaking its age-old monopoly over Kashmir’s religio-political arena. Both Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah have been struggling to hard to recapture the space they lost in 2002 but with no result. Contrarily, their support-base continued to dwindle with each passing day.
J&K brought under the Governor’s Rule for the fifth time on July 11, 2008, when NN Vohra was the Governor. The Governor’s Rule continued for 178 days (July 11, 2008-January 5, 2009). The Governor Rule had to be imposed because the Congress-led coalition government collapsed after the Muftis-led PDP withdrew its support to the government on June 28, 2008 on the issue of Baltal land, which had been allotted to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board on a temporary basis for creating additional facilities for the Amarnath pilgrims as per the directions of the J&K HC and the Congress-led government had snatched that piece of land to appease the secessionists in Kashmir.
J&K was again brought under the Governor Rule for the sixth time on January 9, 2015, when the defeated CM Omar Abdullah refused to continue to function as caretaker CM. J&K remained under the Governor Rule for 51 days (Jan 9, 2015-Feb 28, 2015). NN Vohra was the Governor. The Governor Rule was revoked on March 1, 2015, when the PDP-BJP coalition under Mufti Sayeed assumed power.
The Governor Rule was imposed in J&K for the seventh time after the death of CM Mufti Sayeed on January 7, 2016. The state remained under the Governor Rule for 87 days or till April 3, 2016. J&K had to be brought under the Governor Rule because Mufti Sayeed’s daughter Mehboba Mufti wanted the BJP to give her unbridled power to rule the state. Governor Vohra administered the oath of office to her on April 4, 2016 after she was assured the fullest possible cooperation by the BJP.
And J&K has been witnessing Governor/President Rule since June 19, 2018, when the BJP withdrew its support to her government, citing security reasons and asserting that her government was anti-Jammu. The Governor Rule continued June 19, 2018, when J&K was brought under the President Rule.
What does all this suggest? All this suggests that J&K had to be brought under Governor/President Rule for national security reasons and for the politics of competitive secessionism and communalism being played ruthlessly by the Abdullahs and the Muftis or for the sins committed by the Kashmiri parties in power. All this also suggests that the party politics between the Congress and the NC and between the BJP and PDP too led to the imposition of Governor/President Rule. To be more precise, it’s not nationalistic Jammu, which was responsible for the imposition of Governor/President Rule in J&K for as many as eight times; it’s was divisive and unsettling politics in Kashmir, which left the powers-that-be in South and North Blocks with no other option but to bring the state under Central rule.
The question is: Why should the people of Jammu suffer for the follies committed by the Abdullahs, the Muftis and the ilk in Kashmir? If the people of Jammu are not to suffer anymore or if they have to have their own elected and stable government, the Narendra Modi Government has to separate Jammu from Kashmir and grant it full state status. It must remain a matter of regret that established political actors in Jammu have failed to raise the real issues, including the issue that Jammu will be 100% out of the State Council of Ministers as and when constituted after elections took place on the basis of new delimitation based on the 2011 fudged census figures.