Manoj Sinha takes over as new Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir

Former union minister and senior BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh, Manoj Sinha, was sworn in as second Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday

Sinha (61) was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Justice Gita Mittal, Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, at a function held at Raj Bhavan, here, in the afternoon.

The National Conference, PDP, Congress and other political parties stayed away from the ceremony. However, former PDP leader and Rajya Sabha member Nazir Ahmed Laway, BJP Lok Sabha member Jugal Kishore Sharma and Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party leader Ghulam Hasan Mir attended the oath ceremony besides senior bureaucrats and police officers.

“August 5 is a very important day in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. After years of isolation, Jammu and Kashmir joined the national mainstream. I have been told that many works, which could not be completed in years, have been completed in the past year,” he told reporters after taking the oath.

“I want to accelerate that development,” he added.

Later in the day, he held his first meeting with all the administrative secretaries in the Civil Secretariat, Srinagar.

He succeeds Girish Chandra Murmu, who resigned on Wednesday night and was appointed Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Thursday. Murmu had taken over as the first LG of J&K after the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two union territories on October 31, 2019.

Earlier, Sinha quit his BJP membership in line with the decorum of his constitutional position. The BJP president JP Nadda accepted his resignation while heaping praise on him for his work to strengthen the saffron organisation.

Sinha, who enjoys the confidence of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, was assigned the job to fill the “political vacuum” in the sensitive Union Territory because of his administrative experience, grassroots connection, rustic approach and low-key image, sources said.

“The man with a mass base is seen as non-corrupt which played a key role in him being picked as J&K LG at a time when the Centre is keen to flush out corrupt babus. His immediate challenge will be to tackle ending factionalism within the bureaucracy in the UT, with some senior IAS officers recently found to be publicly indulging in verbal spats,” they added.

His appointment takes place in the atmosphere of lingering stalemate. Peoples’ discontent in Kashmir is simmering against the Centre following the revocation of the erstwhile state’s special status under Article 370 last August, coupled with a shift in strategy by militants, who have now started killing BJP and other political workers.

Sinha reportedly is a big Kishore Kumar fan and often hums his songs. His journey from being a member of the BJP's National Council in 1989 to J&K LG has been a fascinating ride.