In a major move, president Ram Nath Kovind has appointed Bihar governor, Satyapal Malik as the new Jammu & Kashmir governor. He has, therefore, replaced N.N. Vohra as the governor of Jammu & Kashmir. Lalji Tandon is going to be the new Bihar governor. Vohra had been occupying the office of governor of the state since 2008. Governor’s rule had been imposed in Jammu & Kashmir on June 20 and Vohra’s tenure had ended on June 25 itself. However, he continued in office at the president’s pleasure. As per reports, the centre needed an experienced administrator to conduct the ongoing Amarnath Yatra that will conclude on August 28.
Satyapal Malik has been a non-controversial politician in his four-decade long public life. He had started as a student leader in Meerut and joined Charan Singh’s Lok Dal in 1974 after which he was elected to the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly. Later, he also remained a member of the Rajya Sabha- in 1980 as a Lok Dal candidate and in 1986 from the Congress. In 2004, he joined the BJP and contested elections against Charan Singh’s son Ajit Singh. However, he lost the elections. After that he was never in limelight in political life. In September 2017, he was elevated to the post of governor for the state of Bihar and also held additional charge for the state of Odisha for a couple of months earlier this year.
This replacement comes in the background of the outgoing governor, N.N. Vohra having too many controversial views which often clashed with the centre’s stand. As reported earlier by Rightlog.in, Vohra had written a letter to home Minister Rajnath Singh stating that the issue of Article 35A be dealt with only when there is a popular government in Jammu & Kashmir. It must be kept in mind that Article 35A classifies on a very arbitrary and capricious basis as to who are ‘permanent residents’ of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. It had been passed by exercise of extraordinary powers under the Constitution of India and even the parliamentary processes had been bypassed. The controversial piece of legislation also excludes judicial review by stating that no legislation made under this provision can be challenged before the courts. Its constitutional validity is pending before the Supreme Court and under adjudication. It was uncalled for on the part of Vohra to comment about Article 35A when its validity is pending adjudication. If it is constitutionally invalid it will have to be removed no matter what. The excuse of waiting for a popular government is a flimsy ground. The speculations of Vohra being replaced after the Amarnath Yatra were doing the rounds and now they have turned out to be true. While the Modi government is keen on not allowing any conflicts in Kashmir to persist, Vohra’s comments were contradicting this resolve.
With this, the centre has sent across a very strong message. It has made its political will to resolve the Kashmir issue amply clear. It is not going to entertain any hurdles in its way any longer. The central government could not have been expected to settle things in the conflict ridden state with a governor having views in clash with the centre’s approach at the helm of affairs. Therefore, this move was inevitable and stands testimony to the Modi government’s resolve of bringing back normalcy to Kashmir and to conclusively rid Jammu and Kashmir of all its problems. Appointment of Satyapal Malik is one step in that direction.