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Under Jagmohan, Jammu and Kashmir entered a period of unfettered repression

25 January 2016
In 1989, when VP Singh, pictured above shaking hands with Farooq Abdullah, was sworn in as the prime minister, he chose Sayeed to be his home minister. Sayeed was the first Muslim to head the ministry
hindustan times
In 1989, when VP Singh, pictured above shaking hands with Farooq Abdullah, was sworn in as the prime minister, he chose Sayeed to be his home minister. Sayeed was the first Muslim to head the ministry
hindustan times

It was announced today that former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Jagmohan has been named for the Padma Vibhushan, to be awarded on this year's Republic Day celebrations.

Jagmohan held the post of governor for two nonconsecutive terms at the height of militancy in the state. In 1984, then-prime minister Indira Gandhi replaced the then-governor BK Nehru, and gave the post to Jagmohan. This was a part of Gandhi's plot to dismiss the chief minister at that time, Farooq Abdullah. In his January 2016 profile of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the late chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Praveen Donthi recounts how, during Jagmohan's second term as governor, the state entered a period of "unfettered repression."

TOWARDS THE END OF THE 1980’s, [Mufti Mohammad]SAYEED, DISGRUNTLED with his position in the Congress, sought an opportunity to reinvent himself politically. He seized an opportunity after communal riots broke out in Meerut in May 1987. Resigning from his post as union tourism minister, he deplored Rajiv’s [Gandhi]  “insensitive” approach to the violence, and returned to Jammu and Kashmir.

Praveen Donthi is a former deputy political editor at The Caravan.

Keywords: Jagmohan Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Jammu and Kashmir
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