Things move fast in contemporary times and in Jammu and Kashmir’s context, various moves by New Delhi also remain surprising. The latest among the moves happen to be the appointment of a new governor in Manoj Sinha while his predecessor G C Murmu stands appointed Comptroller and Auditor General of India in around a day’s time.
Soon after taking the oath as the second Lieutenant Governor in little over nine months, the former BJP leader and junior minister in previous NDA-led government pitched for dialogue, underlining that the “genuine grievances of people will be listened to” and that he will try to find a way to the solution.”
The 61-year-old new Lieutenant Governor is a senior BJP politician and is understood to enjoy Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s confidence.
While the previous Lieutenant Governor was very close to Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, he happened to be an IAS officer and like the seasoned bureaucrats do, adhere to the processes and rules which he was trained and practised during in-service life. The bureaucrats normally lack the aptitude to reconcile contradictions, agility, and interpersonal skills which is an attribute of a politician. Sinha’s appointment also comes at a time when several mainstream politicians including two former chief ministers, Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, have started speaking to media after about year’s silence.
While Farooq has sought restoration of Article 370 of the Indian constitution, his son however triggered a controversy after he was perceived to have called for the restoration of the statehood for J&K to the neglect of the demand for the Article which was revoked by the NDA government in a surprising move on August 5 last year. However, all leaders including those from PDP, once an alliance partner of BJP in a coalition called by its patron to be coming together of north and south pole, have spoken against the move which completed the first anniversary earlier this week. The appointment of a politician as the Lieutenant Governor is seen to revive the political activities at a time when some mainstream politicians remain in detention and as such the new incumbent’s job would not be easy. Only time will tell if the politician manages to make inroads to see a revival of the political environment and also whether he will be able to restore the people’s trust which he spoke about in his first interaction with the media after taking the oath of the office.
Pitch For Dialogue
