Srinagar: The removal of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Hina Shafi Bhat from the Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB) by the Jammu and Kashmir government has put a cloud over the fate of other appointees of the saffron party in the union territory.
The decision is the first major political move by J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah and it is likely to boost his public image amid a credibility crisis over accusations that his government was warming up to the saffron party after being sworn into office in October last year.
On Monday, January 21, the union territory’s general administration department (GAD) said that the government has reconstituted KVIB’s board of directors with deputy chief minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary appointed as the new chairman of the board.
Choudhary is also J&K’s industries minister. He replaced Bhat, who was elevated to the post in January last year by lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha’s administration through government order no 12-JK(IND) of 2024 issued by the industries and commerce department.
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The order had said the tenure of Bhat, who unsuccessfully contested the recent assembly election from Amira Kadal constituency in Srinagar, would last for “two years or until further orders.”
Bhat, a trained doctor, shot to fame in 2014 when she vowed to pick an AK-47 assault rifle if Article 370 was read down.
Although the GAD order didn’t specify a reason for her removal, Altaf Thakur, a senior BJP leader and party spokesperson, said that his party was committed to “transparency and accountability”.
“This is a government decision and we respect it. Everyone must honour and accept such decisions,” he said and added, “If there are any irregularities, it is the responsibility of the government and concerned agencies to look into them. Transparency and accountability have always been the BJP’s priority.”
In a slew of orders by the GAD on Monday, Choudhary also replaced the chairman of board of directors of J&K Small Scale Industrial Development Corporation Limited and J&K State Industrial Development Corporation – positions which were held by LG Sinha’s former advisor Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar ahead of the assembly elections.
He has also replaced the chairpersons of the Board of Directors of Jammu and Kashmir Handicrafts and Handloom Corporation, JK Cements Limited and J&K Industries Limited.
When J&K was a state, the board chairpersons of these corporations were appointed by the ruling political dispensation and in the aftermath of the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories on August 5, 2019, the appointments were made by the LG administration on the approval of the Union government.
The unceremonious exit of Bhat, whose father Mohammad Shafi Bhat won the 1989 Lok Sabha election as a National Conference candidate, has raised questions about other BJP appointees in Jammu and Kashmir.
Even though the elected government completed more than 100 days in office earlier this month, all officers in the law department, including the Advocate General (AG) and additional AGs who would normally step down on their own when a new political dispensation came into office, have continued to serve in their positions.
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These officers are also appointed by the ruling political dispensation to defend its programs and policies. J&K AG DC Raina had however tendered his resignation to the government led by Omar Abdullah which was however turned down.
Despite a political change in J&K after the 2024 assembly election, senior BJP leader Darakshan Andrabi has continued to serve in the Wakf Board.
The Union ministry of minority affairs, which is entrusted with the maintenance of religious properties of Muslims in the union territory, had appointed Andrabi to the post in March 2022 under clause(a), sub-section (1) of section 14 of The Wakf Act, 1995.
The law was made applicable to Jammu and Kashmir on October 31, 2019.
Recently, the Wakf Board has stirred a number of controversies including over the government’s decision to take control of all the Muslim shrines in Jammu and Kashmir which were earlier managed by local bodies.
Andrabi unsuccessfully fought the 2014 assembly election on the BJP ticket from Sonawar constituency of Srinagar. She didn’t contest the recent assembly polls. Her deputy and the vice-chairman of the Wakf Board is also a saffron party appointee.