Last week J&K once again came under Governors rule when Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) pulled its support from the coalition government headed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The coalition government lasted for over forty moths.
This is not the first time when J&K has directly come under the Governors rule, in past six decades there have been number of occasions when Centre imposed the rule of Governor in the state. However, this is the fourth time when Governors rule has been imposed in the state when present Governor, Narendra Nath Vohra was the governor.
Now once again he is holding the reins of power along with his powerful advisors. Governor Vohra is one of the seasoned Governors who has been appointed to look after affairs of the J&K and is one of the few Governors who enjoys good rapport with almost all the political parties and they don’t have any ill will about him like his predecessors who got involved in different controversies during his tenure.
Governor, Vohra was appointed in J&K as Governor in 2008 after the situation was out of control in the backdrop of the Amarnath yatra land row agitation.
However, he took over the reins of power, when the PDP that was in coalition government with Congress withdrew its support from the Ghulam Nabi Azad government in 2008.
Compared to previous years when Vohra was handed over reins of the power in J&K, this is one of the most challenging periods not only for the government but also for the masses. The re-emergence of the militancy in south Kashmir and other parts of the Valley has created a situation in Kashmir that has it reminiscent of the years of early 1990’s. The daily crackdowns, attacks on the forces and killings have once again brought Kashmir on the map of militancy. If security experts are to be believed the militancy graph will go further up.
From the start of militancy in early 90’s Kashmir was never militancy free, but things at one phase looked as if Kashmir was returning to old days of peace and there was less violence on the streets and villages. However, once again Kashmir has reached to such situation where even the BJP while withdrawing the support from a democratically government had acknowledged the failure of the governance on various fronts which is not a good sign in a country that was known for its democratic values.
Governor Vohra who is a former bureaucrat and was once appointed as an interlocutor to talk with separatist leadership knows Kashmir very closely, and last eight years has added his knowledge on the Kashmir. The tenure of Governor was coming to an end by end of this month, however, keeping in view the sensitive nature of J&K, there are speculations that Governor Vohra will be asked to continue as the head of the state.
The BJP is already looking for some political person who will try to fill the shoes of Vohra, however, finding an alternative will not be an easy task. The Governor Vohra besides trying to restore some sort of normalcy on the security scenario has a big task to do, which is to streamline the administration. In past three years, there have been many loopholes in the administrative affairs of the state and now Vohra at the helm of affairs there is possibility that administration will see a change.
During his previous shot tenures, Vohra has proved to be a good administrator and also there were not many complaints against him while running the affairs of the state. In this new role, the people have lots of hope on the Governor and at least he will try to bring governance, despite the fact, there is a big difference between the Governors rule and government headed by politicians.
This Editorial Earlier Published In Print Edition of ‘ The Legitimate’
