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| The General who revived democracy in J&K | | | M.M.Khajooria | 2/22/2016 12:24:52 AM |
| In the demise of General KV Krishena Rao, the country has lost a valiant warrior, an outstanding former chief of the great Indian Army ,a soldier-statesman and an extremely decent human being. Many richly deserved tributes have been paid to him.
He was a man of many parts - administrator, strategist and a statesman .I was privileged to frequently interact with him while he adorned Jammu and Srinagar Raj Bhavans as the Governor of Jammu & Kashmir during the most turbulent and critical period of its history . A man of few words, he had an open mind gifted with extraordinarily perception , always came direct to the point and refused to suffer fools. Gen Rao did not draw the salary of a Governor and managed within the pension of Chief of the Army Staff.
He was blessed with an ideal life partner in Smt Radha Rao, an elegant but simple and compassionate first lady committed to social causes especially those related to education of children and women emancipation and empowerment. In his first brief tenure July 1989 to January 1990 , he inherited a state infected with complete communal polarisation and near total popular alienation from the mainstream amidst an unprecedented upsurge of Pak sponsored over ground and underground 'Jihadis' in Kashmir. To meet these grave challenges to the security and integrity of the state and the country he had to rely upon the administrative tools that were enfeebled, fractured and significantly compromised . He had hardly begun to get a grip over the dicey and highly explosive situation when change of political dispensation at Delhi necessitated his departure from the state.
He returned to Jammu Raj Bhavan on 12 March, 1993 on second tenure as Governor of Jammu & Kashmir.
His predecessor Girish Sexena, an outstanding Police officer had stemmed the rot inherited by him and initiated the process of consolidation and retrieval of initiative on the terrorist front. Gen. Rao took over from there and went on to tackle the complex and daunting challenges in his own inimitable style, out of the box resolutions and strategically hammered priorities.
Apart from optimising the outputs of existing set up and securing more efficient, responsible and responsible individual performance of the officer class , he crafted new institutions and structures to secure fast track responses and act as the force multipliers .I will confine to two such structures with the creation of which I happened to be personally involved.
During one of our chats, M.N.Sabherwal, the then Director General of Police with whom I have had a long association mentioned that he was feeling handicapped as urgent proposals sent to the government moved at snails' pace -hostage bureaucratic red tape. I posed the problem to Gen, Rao. "What do you suggest" he demanded. . I suggested the constitution of a High powered committee to be headed by the Advisor ( Home) and among others comprising the Chief Secretary, Addl, Chief Secretary ( Home),Secretary, Finance Secretary and the Director General Police .
The idea being that decisions of the committee would be final and implemented straightaway. He approved the proposal .The constitution of the High Level Police Advisory Committee which included my name and that of Lt/. Gen Vadehra(R) at the instance of the Governor was announced by him at a Press conference on 29th of Nov, 1996 to which local, nation and international Media representatives were invited. He showed keen interest in the functioning of the committee and would frequently enquire about progress made.
It has been my consistent view that Terrorism can not be conclusively defeated without active people's participation .I would forcefully emphasise this whenever counter-terror measures came under discussion with the Governor.. After a particularly horrendous terror strike in Doda area, I was asked to submit a detailed proposal which I did in December, 1994 recommending the constitution of Village Defence Committees as the medium of Public participation in counter terror OPS with sharply delineated Charter of Duties .The proposal instantly met with his approval. However, what came to be placed on the ground was a lopsided and distorted version thanks to bureaucratic résistance to any innovative initiative which not only provided for peoples' participation but also involved them in decision making.
Despite these handicaps, Village Defence Committees have played a significant and often pivotal role in quelling terrorism especially in the treacherous terrain of vast hilly belt of the then Doda district .Many VDC members were martyred while fighting foreign and local Pak-trained terrorists equipped with better weapons enjoying the crucial advantage of 'Surprise.'
Holding of elections to the Lok Sabha and the J&K Assembly (1995-96)was the crowning achievement of Gen. KV Krishena Rao as Governor of the state. Not to speak of the establishment and the political class even the then Prime Minister Narsimha Ra was sceptical .'Impossible' said all intelligence and other inputs.
Gen. Rao, however assured the Prime Minister that he was in a position to restore democracy by holding elections and install an elected Government in the state ." Immediately thereafter he would like to be relieved of the assignment" he told the PM on phone. Thus started the quest for candidates first for the Lok Sabha and then for the Assembly. Despite numerous predictable difficulties, he managed to persuade a good number of candidates to jump into the fray. They became a somewhat pampered lot with easy access to Raj Bhavan and PM House in New Delhi. To be 'candidate' became a status symbol. This reminds me of an interesting episode.
Some 'candidates' had come calling on the Governor on their way back from Delhi where they had met the Prime Minister. As is politicians' wont name dropping was agalore." Prime minister said this Pm said that." Went on and on. Gen. Rao appeared to be peeved. "Of curse, you would know , who krishena was but does any one has any idea about Narsimha?", he suddenly inquired. There was silence."OK let me tell you Krishena was the Lord and Narshima his AVTAR" . Never forget that. On that note concluded the meeting.
Gen . Rao was a man with strong likes and dislikes. And he never deviated from correct behaviour and protocol. I was privileged to exchange New Year Greeting card with him from 1990 till the January 2015 . The New Year Greetings were penned by him despite having difficulty in writing for last couple of years . The effort that must have gone into doing would be obvious to any one who had a look on the car I have preserved these Greetings cards from a great man and treasure them immensely.
I last met Gen. Rao in Secunderabad in 2006 during my visit to Hyderabad to participate in the National seminar on 'Public Order' organized by the Administrsative Reforms Commission in Nation Police Academy.
As usual, he made me feel welcome and we chatted for over an hour and a half in a highly congenial environ about variety of subjects , Jammu & Kashmir topping the list. The state was close to his heart .
And in a world where Generals were notorious for overthrowing democratically elected governments to usurp power, here was General who determined and in indeed succeeded in reviving democracy in the terrorist infested and bleeding state of Jammu and Kashmir there by changing the course of history.
The Indian nation will always remember this illustrious son and valiant soldier with pride and affection. |
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