India’s ruling BJP quits Kashmir coalition, governor’s rule imposed
CNNNew Delhi CNN — India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has pulled out of a coalition government in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, potentially destabilizing the already restive region ahead of national elections in 2019. “Keeping in mind the larger national interest of India’s integrity and security, keeping in mind the fact that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, in order to bring control over the situation prevailing in the state, we have decided that it is time the reins of power in the state be handed over to the governor,” Madhav said. Speaking to CNN, Happymon Jacob, an associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University who has written extensively on India and Pakistan, told CNN that the BJP’s decision to pull out of the coalition as “political opportunism.” “The BJP now knows going into the 2019 general elections with the PDP is not going to be very useful on a national level,” said Jacob. A controversial coalition Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti resigned shortly after the BJP announced it was ending its three-year alliance with her People’s Democratic Party.