No Underhand Deal To Form Government

An Elected Government Will Be Back Very Soon. Only They Will Take A Stand On Article 35A.

- Tariq Bhat

The sudden collapse of the Mehbooba Mufti government in Jammu and Kashmir on June 19 added to the growing instability of the conflict-ridden state. Complicating the situation, the governor N.N. Vohra had only a few days left to complete his second term when the BJP withdrew from the coalition government led by Mehbooba’s Peoples Democratic Party. Looking for the right person to replace Vohra, the Union government considered the names of several bureaucrats and retired generals, but it wanted someone with proven political acumen as well as administrative skills.

On August 21, it appointed a seasoned politician, Satya Pal Malik, as the new governor. Malik was the governor of Bihar when the announcement came. “I was told I had been chosen after a one-month deliberation and asked to take a flight to Kashmir that very moment and take the oath the next day,” Malik told THE WEEK in an exclusive interview.

A former Union minister from Uttar Pradesh, Malik has been a member of Parliament three times and an MLA once. He has clean image, suave negotiating skills and personal rapport with J&K politicians like Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference and Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress. Mufti Muhammad Sayeed of the PDP was a friend and colleague of his in the V.P. Singh government.

Even after Malik’s appointment, there was talk that the BJP might form a new government in the state with the help of Sajjed Gani Lone of the Peoples Conference and PDP dissidents. Malik, however, stated in this interview that a new government would be formed only after holding fresh elections to the J&K assembly. Excerpts from the interview:

How has been your Kashmir experience thus far?