Jagmohan Malhotra, former governor of Jammu and Kashmir, passed away at the age of 94. A former civil servant, Malhotra was elected to Lok Sabha in 1996 and served as Union Minister of Tourism and Urban Development.
PM Modi termed his death as a ‘monumental loss for the nation’ and tweeted, “Jagmohan Ji’s demise is a monumental loss for our nation. He was an exemplary administrator and a renowned scholar. He always worked towards the betterment of India. His ministerial tenure was marked by innovative policy making. Condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti.”
Jagmohan Ji’s demise is a monumental loss for our nation. He was an exemplary administrator and a renowned scholar. He always worked towards the betterment of India. His ministerial tenure was marked by innovative policy making. Condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 4, 2021
At a time when goons and miscreants have taken the lives of more than 10 BJP workers in West Bengal, the governorship of Jagmohan Malhotra in Jammu and Kashmir can set an example on how to deploy the constitution to provide safety to the people of the state. His tenure as the Jammu and Kashmir Governor gives a precedent to West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar on how to deal with the ongoing hooliganism in West Bengal.
Jagmohan was the governor of Jammu and Kashmir from 1984-1989, a time when militancy in Kashmir was at its peak. He tried to solve the militancy problem in the state working in tandem with the Farooq Abdullah led National Conference government. His efforts in ending the terrorism network were highly praised throughout his first tenure as the Governor.
Jagmohan was asked to become the Governor for a second time in 1990 when the situation had become too volatile in the valley. He was asked to take control over the situation in Kashmir and he tried everything in his capacity to protect the Hindu minority of the state.
Local newspapers were filled with warnings for the Kashmiri Hindus to flee the valley. The warnings came from Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. Many other local papers replicated this order throughout January. The calls from mosques began coming at midnight of 20th January 1990, reportedly asking all the ‘Kaffirs’ to flee or get killed. The local Islamic leaders started mobilising the crowd to come out against the ‘Kaffirs’. The alleged rapes, massacre and inhuman killings of children, young and old would make anyone shudder. It will be difficult to recount the horrors faced by the Hindu families in Kashmir following the 20th of January.
Rubbish. I was in Srinagar and saw what happened. More than 300,000 pandits left overnight almost because of the violence that Governor Jagmohan was unable to control. The Indian media has always been ‘patriotic’ on Kashmir. https://t.co/c45D5blTGs
— Tavleen Singh (@tavleen_singh) April 27, 2018
https://twitter.com/tavleen_singh/status/989735500352184320
Writers like Tavleen Singh tried to whitewash the crimes of Islamic fundamentalists and blamed it all on Jagmohan. If the true story of Kashmiri Pandit’s exodus is not taught in our schools and colleges, people like Tavleen Singh would continue to whitewash the terror by Islamists and blame it all on the nationalists like Jagmohan Malhotra, who made every effort in their capacity of control the situation.
The Kashmiri Pandits are still displaced. The criminals are still at large in Kashmir and are enjoying the lands and property of the displaced minority from the valley. We need to educate people about what really happened in Kashmir as a case history and as an example of how the Islamic fundamentalists deal with minorities. It might start towards a path for reconciliation if the Kashmiri Pandits are allowed to resettle in the valley, but the story of Kashmiri Pandits and the contribution of the people like Jagmohan in saving them should never be forgotten.