Many historic moments have dotted the political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir especially right from 1947 but the latest one is of great significance as it formally got split into two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh giving practical shape to Jammu and Kashmir Re-organization Act, 86 days after the Parliament passed it as also withdrawing the special status under Article 370. A new beginning on the National Unity Day for the two UTs is the herald of taking leaps in areas of development , peace and progress. It coincided with Sardar Vallabhai Patel ‘s 144th birth anniversary celebrations across the country. It can safely be said , as the Prime Minister too referred to it, that the dream of the unifier of India , Sardar Patel was fulfilled . In this connection, the role played by Dr. Shyama Prasad Mokerjee and that of Pandit Prem Nath Dogra in fighting for one country, one constitution and one flag and not otherwise , cannot be forgotten which in fact, stood now vindicated fully though belatedly.
History has it both , moments of emotions and hopes of new dawns of visions and challenging goals. State of Jammu and Kashmir once had the “privilege” of allowing entry to “others” only under a permit system flouting which instances can be recounted when some politicians of national reckoning were arrested too. It had later temporary ‘special status’ under Articles 370 and 35 A, its own constitution and separate flag . We had also years after accession when the constitutional head was called as ‘Sadar-e-Riyasat and the executive head as Prime Minister. All those political extravaganza have become narrations of the pages of history and occasionally nostalgic feelings could be felt as and when those would be discussed at academic platforms. Now the existing fact is that Jammu and Kashmir has ceased to be a State by embracing new identity transitioning into two Union Territories. There are now nine Union Territories in India , the latest new two, making it nine from the existing number of seven.
In simple but impressive ceremonies , Girish Chandra Murmu was sworn in as the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and Radha Krishna Mathur was sworn in as the Lt. Governor of Ladakh. Earlier, a notification was issued by the Home Ministry at midnight on October 30 to the effect of the new constitutional change replacing State of Jammu and Kashmir with the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir . Importantly , it also announced omission of “permanent residents or hereditary state subjects” as this provision had otherwise become infructuous, the day the J&K Reorganisation Act was passed by the Parliament. Now, all central laws automatically applied to the new UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and that of Ladakh.
The dream of building Naya Kashmir and Jammu as an immediate after-effect of the Reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir would , as envisaged, become easier and attainable without customary and ‘conventional’ humps. Most of the political analysts would agree that the step was otherwise demanding to be taken to rid the erstwhile State of rampant corruption , mismanagement of scarce resources and comparative low performance in almost all areas of governance . Now, since the say and the writ of the Central Government would be more in matters of policing and areas of reasonably strictly enforcing law and order , it is hoped that a marked change would be not only observed by the people but felt too in cogent forms. Institutions of critical nature like the Anti Corruption Bureau and cadres of IAS and IPS would be under the Lt. Governor. It is noteworthy that the status of the IAS and IPS of the (new) UT of Jammu and Kashmir would remain unchanged , however, new recruitments would be inducted into the cadre of the UT.
The biggest challenges before the new arrangement would be to combat and wipe out the three decades old scourge of Pakistan sponsored terrorism. The State has been reeling under it and to call a spade a spade, suffering enormously which looking to the new tactics and designs employed by terrorists and their mentors, was manifest in the recent gruesome killing in Kulgam of six innocent non Kashmiri labourers and a spate of such killings since October 14. Targeted killing of non- locals like truckers and labourers was their misconceived but equally intolerable response to the recent political and constitutional changes in Jammu and Kashmir.
The front of corruption had to be equally taken care of as the menace has been ravaging the very administrative system in major way in Jammu and Kashmir. Anti Corruption Bureau needs to be given more autonomy and high conviction rates in cases of corruption would be an acid test of the new administrative arrangement. We could equally expect better development , infrastructural as well as in other economic areas, where this erstwhile state has been lagging behind other states. Only then , new history would be written.
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