The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Thursday lifted the veil of silence over former governor Satya Pal Malik’s death with a heated exchange over his disputed legacy.
Malik’s death in August was ignored by politicians of all hues in Jammu and Kashmir, apparently because all of them had an axe to grind with him. But the opening day of the Assembly session in Srinagar saw politicians breaking their silence over Malik’s death and legacy.
The politician turned governor headed Jammu and Kashmir during the tumultuous period in 2019 when its special status was scrapped, the state bifurcated and demoted to two Union Territories.
As the lieutenant governor, he presided over a crackdown on politicians resulting in the incarceration of three former chief ministers — Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti — and numerous other political bigwigs.
Malik later became one of the fiercest critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, after which he faced a CBI inquiry into alleged corruption cases.
BJP legislators, however, came to his defence in the Assembly on Thursday after National Conference MLAs Bashir Veeri, who was among the leaders jailed by Malik’s administration, termed his role controversial.
The House broke into laughter after Veeri referred to a “fax machine” episode in 2018 when Mehbooba had staked claim to form the government with Omar’s support after the BJP withdrew support. Malik had infamously said that he did not receive the fax as the machine in his office was broken.
BJP member Sham Lal Sharma demanded Veeri’s remarks be expunged. He said none of the deceased politicians would have thought that a sitting member of the House would say things differently. “The same can happen to us tomorrow. How will the family feel then? We should be mindful of that,” Sharma said.
Omar too defended Malik, arguing he might have acted with the belief that he was doing good.