In the hot seat but 'kept out of loop'

Moments after the BJP announced its decision to pull out of the Jammu and Kashmir government, the home minister left his office and went to his official residence, two senior home ministry officials said, adding that they felt Rajnath had so far been unaware of the impending decision.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Photo: PTI

NEW DELHI: When national security adviser Ajit Doval visited BJP president Amit Shah's bungalow on Tuesday morning, Union home minister Rajnath Singh was sitting in his first-floor office in North Block. Moments after the BJP announced its decision to pull out of the Jammu and Kashmir government, the home minister left his office and went to his official residence, two senior home ministry officials said, adding that they felt Rajnath had so far been unaware of the impending decision. The two officials are among others in the home ministry who told The Telegraph that neither Rajnath nor the government's interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, appeared to have known about the decision to dump Mehbooba Mufti. When the BJP's Jammu and Kashmir minder Ram Madhav announced the pullout, senior ministry officials said they were taken aback. "Forget about us, it seems even Rajnathji was not in the loop," an official said. Contacted after the BJP's decision to pull out, Sharma, the interlocutor, said: "I'm in Srinagar and have just learnt about it. I do not want to comment." Such was the resentment within the home ministry that one official went to the extent of saying: "Rajnath Singh is the official second-in-command in the government, but only on paper." The officials said Rajnath was perhaps the lone member in the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah dispensation taking a nuanced, if not divergent, stand on multiple issues. They cited how Rajnath had pushed for the extension of the unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir but the Prime Minister decided to end it on Sunday following opposition from Doval and army chief Bipin Rawat. Sharma too was keen on a ceasefire extension. "It has to be seen now how Sharma does his job as there is no government in the state," an official said. Government sources said the emergence of Doval as a power centre in the Prime Minister's Office has virtually clipped Rajnath's wings. The national security adviser is learnt to be taking all the key decisions on internal security and Kashmir. "The NSA is PM Modi's eyes and ears in the home ministry," an official said. Around 4.30pm on Tuesday, Rajnath held a meeting at his Akbar Road residence with home secretary Rajiv Gauba, IB chief Rajiv Jain and special secretary in the home ministry Rina Mitra on the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Doval too was present. Rajnath also spoke to Jammu and Kashmir governor N.N. Vohra. Officials in the security establishment said the Centre was planning to launch an all-out operation against militants in Kashmir. "The governor's rule in the state will ensure zero political interference in offensive operations. It is now clear that the government wants to go full steam ahead on its Hindutva and nationalism agenda before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," a source said. An official spokesperson said in Srinagar that after consultations with political parties, governor Vohra had forwarded his report. The spokesperson said the governor had asked Mehbooba to continue in office till alternative arrangements were made. Unlike other states, Jammu and Kashmir has to be placed under governor's rule for six months under Section 192 of the state constitution before President's rule can be imposed. Other states come under President's rule under Article 356 in the event of the failure of the constitutional machinery. "The Union home ministry will forward the governor's report to the President who will send it to the Union cabinet. It will be processed by the cabinet and a decision will be taken," a home ministry official said. -The Telegraph Calcutta