Satya Pal Malik at Raj Bhawan in Srinagar. (Photo: Shuaib Masoodi)
JAMMU AND Kashmir Governor Satya Paul Malik’s remarks about the new Srinagar mayor has triggered a political storm in the Valley, with the National Conference (NC) and the Congress saying that his statement has put a question mark on the credibility of the ongoing municipal elections in the state.
On Monday, Malik had said in an interview with NDTV that Srinagar will have a “foreign-educated” mayor, seen as alluding towards former NC leader Junaid Azim Mattu, who quit the party to contest the municipal polls from the city.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, NC leaders said, “(Governor) Malik’s recent remark favouring a particular individual for the post of Mayor of Srinagar is shocking and puts a big question mark on the impartiality of the Governor’s office. The election process is a smokescreen to hide machinations of the Governor’s office to throttle democratic institutions…. The way Governor has unequivocally expressed his intentions…hinting towards a particular individual… is what casts a shadow on the whole election process.”
The PDP also criticised Malik’s remark. Party’s chief spokesperson Rafi Ahmad Mir said, “Such things are mainly responsible for alienation of people. It doesn’t behove a Governor to say such things.”
State Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir told The Indian Express, “Until yesterday, he (Malik) was saying that Kashmiris are alienated by mistakes of New Delhi. Then he said Kashmiris are alienated by the mishandling of (the state by) Congress and NC. But if today he is himself putting a big question mark on such a big exercise, there is a lot of gap between what he says and does.”