J&K gets first political governor after 51 yrs

Since 1967, the state had governors with military, bureaucratic and intelligence backgrounds

: Jammu and Kashmir, which has a history of having governors with military, bureaucratic and intelligence backgrounds, got a political heavyweight, Satya Pal Malik, as its new governor on Tuesday. He will be the first political governor after 51 years since 1967.

Dr Karan Singh, who was the first political governor of the state, remained in office from 1965 to 1967. After 1967, the state had governors with military, bureaucratic and intelligence backgrounds.

The appointment of Malik as new governor of the state is being seen by political analysts as a new experiment in Kashmir by the BJP government.

BK Nehru and Bhawgan Sahay were ICS officers, who remained governors of J&K while Gen (retd) K V Krishna Rao and Lt Gen (retd) SK Sinha had military background and GC Saxena was from the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Similarly, LK Jha was RBI governor while Jagmohan and NN Vohra were bureaucrats before they headed the office in the troubled and, perhaps, the most sensitive state.

Vohra assumed gubernatorial office on June 25, 2008 taking over the charge from Lt Gen SK Sinha at a time when the Amarnath land row agitation was at its peak following NC leader Omar Abdullah’s controversial remarks. The controversy had communally polarised the two regions of Kashmir and Jammu.

Vohra remained governor for more than 10 years.

Girish Chander Saxena, affably called Gary, also had two terms as governor of Jammu and Kashmir from May 26, 1990 to March 13, 1993 and then from May 2, 1999 to June 4, 2003. He passed away on April 14 last year after a brief illness at the age of 90.