SRINAGAR, 4 June 2004 — Jammu and Kashmir Governor Lt. Gen. (Retd.) S.K. Sinha’s days in the sprawling Raj Bhawan are numbered after an unprecedented row with Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed over Amarnath Yatra, an annual Hindu pilgrimage.

Sinha, a controversial Hindu hardliner, is likely to be replaced either by senior Congress Party leader M.L. Fotedar or retired civil servant R.K. Takkar.

Every year, thousands of Hindus from all over India flock to the Amarnath caves, considered one of the holiest shrines of the Hindu faith. Each July — for one whole month — Hindu pilgrims make their way to the caves in the disputed region of Kashmir.

The Amarnath Yatra begins from either Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir, or the tourist resort of Pahalgam. The journey from Pahalgam to the shrine — at an altitude of 4,000 meters in the heart of the Himalayas — usually takes about five days.

Last week, Sinha took everybody by surprise. Bypassing the state government, he extended the duration of the Amarnath pilgrimage to two months instead of one. Although Sinha is ex-officio chairman of the Amarnath Yatra Shrine Board, his unilateral announcement, without consulting the state government, created a furor.

Quickly asserting his authority, Sayeed annulled Sinha’s announcement and declared that there was no question of extending the duration of the pilgrimage in view of extreme weather conditions and the law and order situation. Sinha then wrote to Sayeed that his stand would send a wrong signal to Hindus and leaked a copy of the letter to the media to put pressure on the state government.

When Sayeed refused to budge, Sinha was virtually on his knees. He summoned reporters to announce that he held Sayeed in high esteem and had no differences with him. But it was too late.

Analysts say that even before the row over Amarnath Yatra broke out last week, the former army general was already in the firing line for his links with the extremist Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh after the fall of Atal Behari Vajpayee government.

Sinha became close to Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani after he contested parliamentary election from Patna on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket.

Sinha was governor of Assam before he was made governor of Jammu and Kashmir last year without consulting Sayeed.

As Assam governor, Sinha sent an extremely provocative report to the federal Home Ministry warning that Assam would secede if the government did not stop the influx of illegal Muslim immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

Muslim groups burned his effigies across Assam and demanded his resignation but Sinha stuck to his guns with New Delhi’s backing.

In Jammu and Kashmir too, Sinha tried to throw his weight around. He apparently ordered senior civil servants holding sensitive posts to report to him bypassing the chief minister. Sayeed informed Vajpayee and Advani about the bullying tactics but the complaints were invariably shrugged off.