Hyderabad: After being divided into two union territories, the erstwhile State of Jammu and kashmir was left without a special status and other related political privileged. The new arrangement would need a bureaucrat to deal with legal complexities which emerged in the aftermath of abrogation of article 370 to frame the laws to implement the Reorganisation Act 2019.
No other than Girish Chandra Murmu could have been the better choice for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he had already proven his loyalty for him in the Ishrat Jahan Ecounter Case and his acumen as bureaucrat was unambiguously known to him for he had served him as his private secretary when he was the chief minister of Gujarat.
Girish Chandra Murmu, a Gujarat cadre IAS officer, had to deal with complex legal matters. Jammu and Kashmir, had been downgraded and torn into two union territories, one with legislative assembly and another without it.
A region, which used to have mobile Chief Minister’s Secretariat and the Raj Bhavan with two capitals, would have to be content with UT status for now. Virtually, no changes were made in the new Ladakh UT except that the bureaucracy based in the region will have to face the wrath of the harsh winters and will have to serve the people under below zero temperature which earlier was not the practice.
Secretariat would move to Jammu for winters and come back to Srinagar for summer, the practice would allow bureaucrats and their families avoid harsh winters of Kashmir and Ladakh.
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Settling of non-state subjects, giving more powers to armed forces and ensuring that anti-government voices are disempowered, rather the voices for India are more in number than the indigenous ones was one of Murmu’s major agendas to contain the secessionist movement.
Issuance of domicile certificates had to happen without much noise and the process to provide certificates to aspiring candidates entitled under the new Reorganization Act, post abrogation of the article 370 without any bureaucratic hassle was something an officer like Murmu could only do.
The rules to implement the laws had to be framed in such a way that it complements the government’s agenda. Murmu confidently ran the business while implementing the laws and kept the voices of dissent away in a shutdown mode, some on their own accord, some through coercive diplomacy. Most of the members in the mainstream political ranks were jailed or kept under house arrest.
Those who fall in line were released with a note of caution after being asked to sign a document committing to abide by what government says as was disclosed by a political leader of the PDP after his release. This coercive diplomacy through legal means was possible only from a person who understands the language of bureaucracy. For the last one year, Kashmir has been politically dormant. The bureaucratic activity was in vogue.
Now the stage for politics is set, Murmu obviously would have found himself unfit for the role. The role of the LG in Jammu and Kashmir for the previous year was mostly apolitical. The region is now is ripe for politics. After Murmu made some statements regarding elections, delimitation and the internet blockade, which did not go well with New Delhi, his days were numbered. His loyalty and acumen found him a better place as the CAG. His replacement, Manoj Sinha, is being seen as a silent performer in the ranks of the BJP with an ability to connect with masses.
The appointment of Sinha as new LG of J&K is aimed at reviving the political activity in the region which was eroded by the major crackdown after almost the entire leadership was put behind bars. Apparently, nothing new or exciting is on the platter but old turncoats would come back to restore the normalcy in the mainstream political landscape. It is eloquently written on the wall that people who are freed have accepted the decision as their fate.
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