Jammu and Kashmir was on Wednesday placed under Governor’s rule for the fourth time in the last one decade after the BJP withdrew support to its alliance partner PDP, prompting Mehbooba Mufti to resign as the chief minister. A Home Ministry spokesman said “the President has approved imposition of Governor’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect.” The political developments of Jammu and Kashmir continued to dominate the night as President Ram Nath Kovind was in mid air when governor N N Vohra sent his report to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The details of the Governor’s report were immediately sent to Suriname where the president was scheduled to land at 6.30 PM (3 AM IST) on his maiden visit.
“After concluding his consultations with all the major political parties, the Governor has forwarded his report to the President for imposition of Governor’s rule under Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir,” a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said last night in Srinagar. The president after pursuing the report gave his assent and the same was sent to the Union Home Ministry by 6 AM IST following which a process of promulgating Governor’s rule was prepared and sent to Srinagar. This is the eighth time in last four decades that the state has been put under Governor’s rule and fourth during the tenure of Vohra since 2008. The BJP stunned Mehbooba Mufti last afternoon after they pulled out of the over three-year-old ruling coalition with the PDP in the state and called for Governor’s rule.
BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav made this announcement that the party was withdrawing support to the coalition government which had been wracked by bitter political feuds and worsening security challenges. “It has become untenable for the BJP to continue in the alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir,” Madhav had said on Tuesday. Governor’s rule was imposed in the state for the first time during the tenure of Vohra for 174 days after the PDP withdrew support to Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Congress-PDP coalition government in 2008. The PDP withdrew support to the government on June 28, 2008 following widespread protests during the Amarnath land row agitation that pitted Hindu-dominated Jammu region against the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley.
The central rule came to an end on January 5, 2009 after National Conference leader Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the youngest chief minister of the state. Governor’s rule was imposed in the state for the second time during his tenure after the assembly election results on December 23, 2014 threw up a hung assembly with no party or combination of parties able to stake claim for government formation and Omar Abdullah, the caretaker chief minister, asking to be relieved from the duties with immediate effect on January 7.
The central rule ended after the PDP and the BJP stitched an alliance paving the way for the return of Mufti Sayeed as chief minister on March 1, 2015. Last time the state was put under the central rule on January 8, 2016 after allies– the PDP and the BJP– deferred the government formation process following the death of Mufti Sayeed. It came to an end after Mehbooba Mufti was sworn in as the chief minister on April 4, 2016.
