NN Vohra, the philosopher king, in charge of volatile Valley for 4th time

J&K has been under Governor's rule eight times. Half of the instances have been during Vohra's stint

NN Vohra is back on the saddle in Jammu and Kashmir as the ruling coalition of Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP and BJP has fallen apart.

Vohra is an old Kashmir hand and is the only UPA era governor who was not asked to resign by the Modi government. He assumed the role for the first time in 2008. Prior to that, he had been an interlocutor between the Centre and the various stakeholders in the valley. 

It is the fourth time that governor's rule has been imposed in the state since he took over as the governor. Interestingly, that's half the total number of such instances. 

A look at Governor's rule in Kashmir

The longest instance was in 1990 during the surge of separatist movement in the state. Then Chief Minister and National Conference patriarch Farooq Abdullah had quit over the appointment of Jagmohan as governor. 

The last time was when Mufti Mohammed Sayed passed away and government formation after the state polls had to be postponed. 

In 1977, Congress pulled out of its alliance with Sheikh Abdullah-led NC and it turned out to be the beginning of several long stretches of Governor rule in the state.

The philosopher king

NN Vohra was awarded the Padma Vibhushan for his contributions as a civil servant. Successive governments at the Centre have continued to repose their trust in him in handling the volatile valley. 

However, that's not all there is to the man. He has authored numerous texts on a wide range of subjects such as South Asia, diplomacy, world trade, history etc.

He had also been a visiting fellow at Oxford University.