Jagmohan

Jagmohan
5th Governor of Jammu and Kashmir
In office 19 January 1990 – 26 May 1990
Preceded by	K. V. Krishna Rao
Succeeded by	Girish Chandra Saxena
In office 26 April 1984 – 11 July 1989
Preceded by	Braj Kumar Nehru
Succeeded by	K. V. Krishna Rao
6th Lieutenant Governor of Delhi
In office 2 September 1982 – 25 April 1984
Preceded by	Sundar Lal Khurana
Succeeded by	P. G. Gavai
In office 17 February 1980 – 30 March 1981
Preceded by	Dalip Rai Kohli
Succeeded by	Sundar Lal Khurana
9th Lieutenant Governor of Goa, Daman and Diu
In office 31 March 1981 – 29 August 1982
Preceded by	P. S. Gill
Succeeded by	I. H. Latif
Personal details
Born	25 September 1927 (age 86) Hafizabad, Punjab, India
Spouse(s)	Uma Jagmohan
Children	Deepika kapoor, Manmohan

Jagmohan was born on September 25, 1927, in the railway colony of Cheecho Ki Malian (West Pakistan), known by the mononym Jagmohan, is a retired civil servant, former Lieutenant Governor Delhi, Goa, Governor Jammu & Kashmir.

Early Life and Career

Jagmohan's father was posted as track engineer in the Indian Railways. From time to time, the family moved to other stations and lived in various railway colonies. At that time, the national movement for freedom was gaining ground. But it was soon overtaken by the divisive fall-outs of the 'two nation' theory due to British strategy of 'divide and rule' . All this led to the partition of the country, communal riots and killings and also a large scale migration of population across the dividing line.

Jagmohan himself escaped death by a whisker. In one of his recent books, he recalled the horrible event that he encountered in the night intervening August 14 and 15, 1947: " I stood on the roof of our house in Hafizabad (now in Pakistan) where I got stranded due to the sudden eruption of violent disturbances. I saw the outer portion of the town burning furiously. Huge flames leaped straight towards the dark and cloudy sky. Even the air, frozen by fear, stood still. Thousands perished – speared, shot or burnt. These communal events may have something to do with me deciding to drop using my surname."

After remaining a virtual prisoner for about four months in the protection camp, Jagmohan was moved, as a seriously sick boy, to the Indian side of the border, from where he proceeded to Delhi and joined other family members for permanent stay in the capital. His poor health and lack of facilities and resources notwithstanding, he completed his college education and joined the State service of Punjab & and later Delhi. He soon made his mark as an able organizer with initiative and drive. His talent was spotted by a galaxy of top civil servants of the ICS era, such as A.D. Pandit, Bhagwan Sahay, Dr. A.N. Jha and V. Vishwanathan, who held the office of Lt. Governor at that time. As implementation Commissioner and later as Vice Chairman, Delhi Development Authority, Jagmohan executed firmly the Clearance cum resettlement – Redevelopment schemes which had been approved by the union cabinet and the Parliament . But vested interests in land grabbing & encroachment wanted to stop his work by labeling it as demolitions . So in the Post emergency regime- Jagmohan was subjected to a savage campaign of calumny . A bundle of lies were spun around Jagmohans development work around Turkman Gate .

According to Jagmohan - during the Emergency, neither the provisions nor the procedures with regard to the urban development schemes underwent any change, but he was unfairly blamed in the post-Emergency years for having acted on the dictates of the Gandhi family. By citing contemporary documents and detailed policy decisions taken by him - with the concurrence of all political parties - much before the Emergency - Jagmohan put the record straight in his book, 'Island of Truth'. As he says in the book" my only fault was that I happened to occupy a particular post at a particular time and was not prepared to step out of my 'island of truth' and throw mud on others by hypocritically condemning a program and a policy which was totally in public interest . Clearance & improved development - for building schools, low costs housing , roads and bridges had suffered due to pressure from vested interest . River fronts are uglified . natural landscape and ridges were damaged , historical places were turned into filthy slums . Is it not ‘good for the people’ that this be rectified?!"

In January 1980, Jagmohan took over as Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and put the planned development of the Capital in top gear. His tenure saw successful organization of three major international events – the Asian Games, Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting and Non-Alignment Movement Conference. Jagmohan served his second term as the city's Lieutenant Governor and under his supervision Delhi hosted the Asian Games, The games were a huge success and he was credited for his capable administration of the city at the time. Without bothering about the brickbats he got earlier – with renewed vigor he started his mission to create greener and healthier Delhi – and created a large number of planned areas for habitation and recreation . Under his direct supervision a large number of rehabilitation colonies were created and many green belts were carved out. Jagmohan has elaborated his stand on planned urban spaces in his two subsequent books, namely ‘Soul and Structure of Governance in India ‘ and ‘Triumphs and Tragedies of Ninth Delhi’.

About Jagmohan’s first tenure as Governor of Jammu and Kashmir (1984–89), it is often said that during his governor’s rule - people of the valley had their first glimpse of a benevolent, humane and honest local administration . He was the first head of state in J& K in 1984 to start open darbar where the poorest of Kashmiri people could have their problems solved on an urgent basis . He paid special attention to building of schools and hospitals, restoration of iconic cultural centres like Moghoul time gardens, Mosques & tombs . He paid special attention to creation of facilities for drinking water and drainage. He made personal visits to far flung areas of Kashmir & Ladakh to boost the morale of local administration officers, police and army personnel.

Despite stiff united opposition from Farooq Abdullah led National Conference, Ghulam Nabi Azad led Congress & karan Singh led royal family - he created an independent board that continues to provide administration for a shrine Mata Vaishnao Devi, one of the most revered religious places of India. Widespread Infrastructure including roads, resting places, drinking water, toilets and sanitation facilities were developed in Jammu, at Katra & at Bhavan. These still continue to facilitate more than 10 million pilgrims per year. This model pilgrim centre reform created jobs & livelihood in the entire region.

In 1989 - Jagmohan had disagreement with Rajiv Gandhi on various issues connected with Kashmir. Rajiv Gandhi's insistence that Jagmohan should run for elections from Jammu led to a fall out between Jagmohan and Rajiv Gandhi . Jagmohan was out of government and in Delhi – when in December 1989, the valley was suddenly under a grip of renewed wave of militancy. The newly elected Prime Minister V.P.Singh decided to rush Jagmohan to the state to contain the crisis. Jagmohan was expected to be received warmly by the local people owing to his previous record, but unfortunately he got sucked into a quagmire due to disruptive forces unleashed by both Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani President of that time, the ISI and with the local government headed by Farooq Abdullah. Jagmohan had been appointed against the wishes of Farooq Abdullah who resigned from his post in protest. Stone throwing mobs gathered in large parts of Kashmir - followed by violence and terror incidents against security forces and Kashmir pandit.

Eventually, though Jagmohan managed to save Kashmir from fundamentalist forces from across the border - he was removed by the central government because it was thought that the events in Kashmir might alienate the ruling party's Muslim vote bank. Jagmohan was removed as Governor by Prime Minister V. P. Singh's government. Jagmohan has given a ringside account of these events in his book 'My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir' Jagmohan's disagreement with various leaders in Janata Dal on the issue of effective management of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir – led to his being recalled from Governorship in May 1990. However, due to high regard for his contribution during the worst phase of militancy - Jagmohan was nominated as Member Parliament in Rajya Sabha during 1990 – 1996.

He was subsequently invited by Bharatiya Janata Party to represent the prestigious New Delhi Constituency in 1996. He won a hat-trick in Lok Sabha elections from New Delhi (1996, 1998 and 1999). When the BJP's Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister in 1999, Jagmohan served in his cabinet first as Telecom & Communication Minister. When Jagmohan refused to grant telecom licenses without proper auctions – he was shifted out of telecom and given Urban Development portfolio. With his customary zeal he created vast pools of green belts in Delhi and other cities of India.. Soon, the usual vested interests united to stall his anti encroachment drive and redevelopment work in poor areas of Delhi. The Vajpayee government again shifted him to Tourism and Culture Ministry. Instead of getting demoralized, Jagmohan decided to launch the most ambitious project of his life creating 32 cultural hubs across India restoring some of the most iconic & historical architectural and cultural focal points – in a bid to reclaim India’s primary position as global cultural fountainhead .

Awards and Honors

On the basis of his service record and recommendations made by top civil servants, he was honoured, on January 26, 1971, with the award of Padma Shri by the President of India, "for formulation and implementation of the Delhi Master Plan and for playing a pioneering role in planning and implementation of projects in Delhi". He was functioning as the Vice-Chairman of Delhi Development Authority

With a merger revolving fund of just Rs. Five crore, Jagmohan launched large number of land acquisition and development schemes, showcasing how development effort could be financed by creating facilities – thus increasing value of the state land resources. For a series of innovations of this genre, good management skills, and for "his meritorious services to the country" he was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1977. As Implementation Commissioner, and later as Vice-Chairman, Delhi Development Authority, Jagmohan executed, with his usual zeal, the various Parliament approved schemes of Clearance-cum-Resettlement-cum Redevelopment which the vested interests in politics labelled as demolition drives.

Positions held

• 1980–81: Lt. Governor, Delhi (two times)
• 1981–82: Lt. Governor, Goa, Daman and Diu
• 1984–89: Governor, Jammu and Kashmir (two times)
• 1990–96: Member (nominated), Rajya Sabha

During the 1990s, Jagmohan had served as nominated MP in the Rajya Sabha from 1990–96, and won a hat-trick of Lok Sabha elections from New Delhi.

• 1996: Elected to 11th Lok Sabha from New Delhi
• 1998: Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha (2nd term) from New Delhi<
• 1998-December: Union Cabinet Minister, Communications
• 1999-June–October: Union Cabinet Minister, Urban Development
• 1999: Re-elected to 13th Lok Sabha (3rd term) from New Delhi
• 1999-October–November: Union Cabinet Minister, Urban Development
• 1999-November: Union Cabinet Minister, Urban Development
• 2001-September: Union Cabinet Minister, Tourism
• 2001-November-2004-April: Union Cabinet Minister, Tourism and Culture

Books authored

• Rebuilding Shahjahanabad, the Walled City of Delhi
• Island of Truth (1978)
• My frozen turbulence in Kashmir
• The Challenge of Our Cities
• Soul and Structure of Governance in India
• Reforming Vaishno Devi and a Case for Reformed, Reawakened and Enlightened Hinduism
• Triumphs and Tragedies of Ninth Delhi