Governor’s Rule

Sir,
On 19 Jun 2018, the coalition partner of PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) withdrew its support compelling Ms. Mufti to resign. This created governance vacuum for the Governor to take over the reign of the State as per Section 92 of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. Failure of democratically elected dispensation is usually taken with a broken heart; however the move in question was welcomed across the three regions of the state for reasons well known to all of us. The incumbent government was a marriage of convenience between two political parties having ideological differences which ultimately resulted in divorce with least pains. Hence, Section 92 of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir was invoked to provide administrative arrangement in the absence of democratically elected Government. However, the house was not dissolved but kept under suspension. A question which haunts my mind every minute is as to why the people of J&K are happy with alternate arrangement and is this remedy or recourse? An alternate arrangementcannot complement the permanent option.
It therefore implies that the presence of government was really not felt by the common masses. The voters across the regions felt deceived as least services were rendered to them. Despite the fact that two partners have framed an Agenda of Alliance theoretically, but could hardly sustain for three years in office suffering deficit of confidence and maturity in handling various sensitive issues. The mandate given to both the partners was region specific and none of them proved their worth as regards the expectations of the voters. The State of Jammu and Kashmir is going through turmoil for last few decades and such weak governance adds fuel to fire. This annoyed general masses and the sentiments shown on the failure of the PDP led Government therefore did not hurt anyone. However, this trend is not worth appreciation because Governor rule under Section 92 of the J&K constitution runs parallel to Article 356 of the Indian Constitution which had time and again been criticized for its application. Governor Rule is a temporary arrangement provided in the state constitution to prevent vacuum of governance whenever democratic machinery fails. This may therefore be taken as a remedy to correct the situation and not recourse. Initiation of political process to either form democratically elected Government or hold elections to seek fresh mandate of the voters is only answer. Delay in this process for whatever reasons will not be justified and tolerated by the innocent voters of the Jammu and Kashmir who have least interest in the games being played in disguise.
Wg Cdr
Mahesh Chander Sudan (retd)
Sainik Colony Jammu

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