Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, who is completing his tenure of five years on August 07, 2025, has said that following scrapping of Article 370 and 35 A, the government under the leadership of PM Modi has been able to establish a Naya Kashmir where academic calendars have replaced Pakistan’s strike calendars and the youth are once again full of hope and are dreaming big and the general populace has become an active stakeholder in establishment of peace.
“J&K has fully integrated with rest of the country, economy has doubled, youth are carrying books not stones, terrorism is breathing its last, that is Naya Kashmir,” LG said.
“Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed visible positive changes in all sectors and the UT has witnessed unprecedented growth,” LG said during an interview with The Week.
He said that during past five years, the focus of the government was four P’s – peace, prosperity, progress, people first and no compromise have been made on this agenda.
“Our resolve was to establish peace and not buy it. J&K Police, Army and other security agencies have done a wonderful job and that is why you are seeing Kashmiri students marching towards schools with books and not on streets with stones,” he said.
He said that while all top terrorist commanders have been eliminated, local recruitment into terror ranks has gone drastically down.
“Last year, there were only six such recruitments and this year, till date, just one. This is a great success that indicates that Indian state’s authority has been established and J&K has completely integrated with the country,” he said
Responding to a question regarding the functioning of Raj Bhawan and elected government, the LG said that state reorganisation act has clearly specified the roles of both the offices,
“I know my limitations, will never cross the line. We (me and CM) have good relations. We frequently meet at different occasions. If there are any confusions, these could be sorted out,” he said.
About restoration of statehood, LG said that the commitment has been made by the HM on the floor of House and it will happen.
“There was a sequence in HM’s statement in the House. He said, first the delimitation would take place, then elections to the Assembly would be held and third step would be restoration of statehood. Delimitation and elections were done despite cynics thinking otherwise and thus statehood too would be restored but at appropriate time as suggested by the HM,” LG Sinha said.
When asked that even if statehood is restored, who should be dealing with law & order, LG said that UT being a border region, ministry of home affairs should be actively involved in security related issues,
On dismissal of government servants on terror charges and the criticism by former chief minister and PDP President, Mehbooba Mufti, the LG said that no innocent has been targeted.
“Those who threaten the State, those who threaten the integrity and peace, action has to be taken against them. The employees dismissed from services had active terror record and some of them had even been jailed on terror charges. Our resolve is not to spare any terrorist and not to scare any innocent,” LG said.
The LG gave a detailed overview of developmental issues of J&K.
“Under the able leadership of PM Modi, we have established accountability and transparency and J&K’s economy has doubled,” he said, citing an example that J&K Bank, premier financial institute of the UT has registered a profit of 1700 crore.
While detailing the developmental works done in past five years, LG Sinha spoke about construction of highways and tunnels, rural road infrastructure, IIT, IIM, NIFT, two AIMS, saying unprecedented growth has been witnessed in all sectors. He also highlighted the improvement in electricity production and transmission distribution in J&K.
About tourism, the LG said that the sector was booming and last year the UT witnessed the footfall of 2 crore 30 lakh tourists.
“Even this year, it was going pretty good before Pakistani terrorists hit Pahalgam killing innocent people,” he said and added, Operation Sindoor has conveyed to Pakistan that India will treat any further terrorist act as an act of war and respond the way it did recently.
On rehabilitation of terror victim families, LG said that these people have been denied justice for so long.
“The other day I distributed employment letters to 40 of such victims. Intention is to provide them justice that was denied all these years. Providing justice, healing, providing jobs and restoring dignity is our goal and we will do it,” he said.
