Failures of Governor Jagmohan Malhotra

On the eve of Jagmohan taking over as the governor of the state second time, Dr Farooq Abdullah resigned from the office of CM on January 18, 1990. His resignation added fuel to the fire. The national conference workers took it as a signal to support the insurgency and terrorism to show the centre down which in fact, Dr Farooq aimed at in collusion with the Congress President Rajiv Gandhi. He impliedly, therefore, joined the forces of Muslim fundamentalism, secession, terrorism and insurgency.

It added to the mess created which was most of his own seeking. He thereby, boosted the morale of all those anti-India elements whether in arms or without arms, having risen against the Hindus primarily and secular India mainly.

Farooq Abdullah as such lacked the will to fight out insurgency and crush terrorism. He was rather one of its sponsors. His resignation was an escape from facing the situation created by him. It was also an indication to his followers to help the forces of destabilisation, communalising the situation, eliminating Hindus and seceding Kashmir. With his resignation, terrorism received impetus in Kashmir. A man, who deserted Kashmir and Kashmiris at the time of catastrophe and calamity and flew to England, along with his family, can hardly be relied upon.

Dr Farooq’s backing out at such a critical juncture of Kashmir history provided some justification for the dissolution of the state assembly by the governor. However, the Janata Dal government caused further ruination of Kashmir which they brought about callously. In this process, Kashmiri Hindus were eliminated from Kashmir.

Governor Jagmohan, a non-political and self-conceited individual, displayed incapacity to gauge the political moves and dissolved the assembly hastily. He did not ascertain and explore the feasibility of finding a better chief minister. He did choose to rule himself, but the political sagacity and sensitivity of the developing situation called for a more cautious exercise of power than was done. The situation demanded the statesmanship of the highest order than mere administrative skill to handle it. Mufti Mohammad Sayyed saw his own game in the dissolution of the assembly to directly influence and interfere with Kashmir and its administration.

It was Home minister Mufti Sayyed who wanted the exodus of Hindus from the valley. Kashmiri Muslim leaders were always interested in seeing the Hindu population decreased in the valley. His involvement in the 1986 Anti Hindu riots left a deep mark on the psyche of Hindus who protested against him for abetting the riots in South Kashmir. It ultimately led to his resignation from the Congress party as well as ministership. Mufti advanced the unfinished communal task of 1986 and made the governor a vassal to carry his political armour to the destination he had set for the ruination of Kashmiri Hindus. He was chosen not to see the other side which has brought Kashmir exiled to the point of dispersal, distruction and extinction of the Kashmiri Hindu community. For his personal ends, Jagmohan saw colossal damage done to Kashmir through Rajiv Gandhi only and not through his congress leader and tourism minister Mufi Sayyed and absolutely not through Janata Dal and its home minister Mufti Mohmmad Sayyed.

Jagmohan’s second term of governorship was best with acute problems. He tried to tackle the situation with his administrative skills and did succeed to some extent. But it was not a durable success, It appeared to be a lull before a storm. The Hindus were nevertheless hounded from the valley. The mass exodus of Kashmiri Hindus brought no laurels to Jagmohan. It was his failure. he apparently could not protect and safeguard Hindus and nationalist Muslims there. Any other success, howsoever important, pales into the insignificance before the exile forced upon them. What Jagmohan could not do for the displaced people in the valley itself, he did that for them promptly in Jammu. His beneficial measures for them and other decision, have earned him their admiration. But the fact remains that the main Hindus migration took place during his tenure, which history will not take lightly.

The absence of a tiny community from Kashmir continuously for such a long period, has made material changes in Kashmir to the disadvantage of the displaced minority community. Jagmohan’s help notwithstanding, the displaced community, has lost all moorings.

The mass exodus of Hindus created a political void that received impetus by Dr Farooq’s resignation as chief minister. It was due to a lack of political wisdom and consequent inability to formulate an effective and proper strategy and policy that insurgency, terrorism and feelings of separation spread like wildfire.

On the unceremonious termination of Jagmohan’s governorship, some sections of the Hindus strongly protested in Jammu and called indefinite hartal, demanding him back as governor for crushing the terrorism with a firm hand. Things went quite the opposite. Jagmohan struck a bargain with the central government and accepted the nomination to Rajya Sabha, rejecting all those who had come forward to support him to bring him back as a governor and also giving finalising the Kashmir policy by giving it a definite shape and direction.

His compromise with Janata Dal gave him a setback and the people inferred that he was simply a job seeking bureaucrat from whom nothing much politically could be expected. Kashmiri Hindus today hold conflicting opinions regarding his rule as governor of Jammu and Kashmir but most people agree on his administrative skills, yet as an administrator placed in time and place that he was the political upheaval got better off him.

Apart from why and how this all happened, the fact is that the valley assumed total Islamic character and emerged as an autonomous Islamic state within the union of India. Hoodwinking the nation on false information, assertions and ground realities of the decimation of Hindus in Kashmir.