What Exactly Does Mehbooba Mufti Want? What Will She Gain Out Of This Drift?
Mehbooba Mufti wants to form the government with her own terms and conditions.
This means far more autonomy than currently envisaged, a role for Pakistan, and open or irrelevant borders.
Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, who are already at the receiving end because of their “soft” attitude towards the PDP, endorse Mehbooba Mufti’s line?
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti could have occupied the coveted highest executive office in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) a day after her father Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed died at New Delhi’s All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on 7 January. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the post-poll ally of the PDP, had expressed itself in favour of joining the government under her leadership. But Mehbooba Mufti chose not to assume the office.
At the same time, she neither overruled nor ruled in the possibility of re-stitching alliance with the BJP. Nor did she talk to media and held any party meeting for three long weeks after the demise of her father. She remained confined within the four walls of her Srinagar Fairview residence. She didn’t meet senior party leaders or functionaries except for her close confidant and party’s chief spokesperson Naeem Akht
Her silence and inactivity during those three weeks surprised her supporters, critics and even political pundits. The reasons were obvious. After all, she was Kashmir’s most vocal, most visible and very active political leader.
In between, two senior BJP ministers from New
Delhi, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Surface and Transport Minister
Nitin Gadkari, AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi
Azad and BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav, one of the chief architects
of the PDP-BJP alliance, did meet Mehbooba Mufti, but these were
described by the BJP, the Congress and the PDP as purely “courtesy calls”.
During this period of wait and watch, many top BJP leaders, including Nitin Gadkari and Ram Madhav, also reassured Mehbooba Mufti through statements that the BJP was for the formation of the PDP-BJP government and it stood committed to implementing the agenda of alliance in its entirety.
It was only on 31 January that she met with
Senior PDP leaders, members of Parliament, legislators, office-bearers,
district presidents and zonal presidents at her residence.
Everyone in the state and New Delhi assumed that the meetings were to discuss government
formation. But this was not to be.
She only discussed
organisation-related matters, reflected on the difficulties that her father
faced during March-December, 2015, when he was in the driving seat, and gave
everyone to understand that she was not in haste.It would be only desirable to reproduce
verbatim some relevant portions from her 45-minute address to party leaders and
legislators. Such an exercise will help put things in perspective.
She said-
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took a courageous, although unpopular, decision of aligning with BJP with the hope that the Central Government headed by Narendra Modi will take decisive measures to address the core political and economic issues concerning J&K and its people. Instead of partnering with and implementing Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s vision of bringing peace, stability and prosperity to J&K, certain quarters (read BJP leaders), both within J&K and in New Delhi, started overtly and covertly triggering frequent controversies over avoidable contentious issues resulting in wastage of the State Government’s energies in firefighting and propitiation. In such violative circumstances around, we will have to reassess whether we can absorb the shocks which Mufti Sahab had to do so frequently in his effort to forge reconciliation between the regions and the people of the State. PDP can’t form a government just for the sake of power but, if it does, it will be, as envisioned by Mufti Sahab, with the objective of addressing the core political and economic issues confronting J&K as was done by the PDP-led Government between 2002 and 2005”<b>(<i>News</i>, 1 February ) </b>
She further said-
I am ready to burn my fingers, but I will not burn them for nothing…I am not averse to government formation, but that can only happen if the Government of India gives assurances on time-bound implementation of the agenda of alliance. My father had broad shoulders. He could take huge burden. I don’t have shoulders as strong as he had. If anyone among you still feels we must form the government, as it has been during the last 10 months, you are free to make your choice. I am prepared to begin alone a battle for the realisation of Mufti sahib’s vision, beginning from scratch if it has to be so .(<i>Business Standard</i>, 1 February)
A day later, she reiterated her stand.
Addressing the PDP Legislature Party meeting at her residence, she, inter-alia,
said:
My biggest legacy is my party and my father’s vision to take the State out of political uncertainty. If I feel we can make progress on the agenda of alliance, even if I get consumed by joining hands with BJP, I won’t mind. I am ready to give this sacrifice…But if we can’t achieve the set goals, I won’t compromise even if I am left alone in this battle.<b>(<i>Greater Kashmir</i>, 2 February )</b>
The tone and tenor of her speech was such that Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, NN Vohra, on 31 January sent a fax message to Mehbooba Mufti asking her and J&K BJP president Sat Sharma to meet with him at the Raj Bhavan in Jammu on 2 February to explain their stand on government formation. The separate meetings between the Governor and Mehbooba Mufti and between the former and Sat Sharma did take place at the stipulated time, but both the parties stuck to their stated positions.
The BJP sought from the Governor ten days
time telling him that the party was for government formation with the PDP and
it needed some more time to iron out differences, if any, with Mehbooba Mufti.
Earlier in the morning, two BJP leaders former Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal
Singh and party president Sat Sharma had met with Mebooba Mufti at Jammu’s Guest House.
After their meetings with the Governor and the PDP boss, they interacted with media persons and explained away the part’s stand on government formation. While Nirmal Singh said the BJP was committed to fulfilling the late Mufti Sayeed’s vision for Jammu and Kashmir (Daily Excelsior, 3 Feb), Sat Sharma told Times Now that the “BJP was prepared to go even beyond the agenda of alliance” to save the coalition.
“Modi sahab and Mufti sahab had a vision regarding J&K. We will complete that vision. But constitutional problem is that until PDP selects a leader and tell the Governor and moves further to form a government, after that only we can move ahead constitutionally,” said Nirmal Singh.
As for Mehbooba Mufti, who for the first
time after her father’s demise, talked to reporters, held her ground firmly and
took the line she had taken on 31 January and 1 February. She, among other
things, said:
My party wants a government in J&K not for power but for inspiring confidence among the people (read Kashmiri people), about its ability to solve the multiple problems faced by the State on political, economic, administrative and financial fronts…J&K is different State and there are different challenges unlike other States where there is government, opposition and other administrative problems. In J&K, we have to fight so many forces. And to fight these forces and stable the situation it is important that our country’s government stands behind us like a rock and solve the problems of J&K… The Centre (read Narendra Modi’s government) did not support Mufti Mohommad Sayeed the way PDP was expecting during the last 10 months of rule in J&K. Despite having taken a huge political risk of going against the public sentiment in Kashmir by aligning with BJP, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was virtually made to run from the pillar to post by New Delhi to get even the constitutionally guaranteed funds for the development of the State…If a government is to be formed in the State, it (in this case the Modi Government) will have to take tangible measures to address the causes of alienation, trust and development deficit in J&K and work towards finding a long-lasting solution to the problem plaguing the State for the past more than six decades.<b>(DNA, 3 February )</b>
After her meeting with Governor NN Vohra, Mehbooba Mufti again went into hibernation. She remained confined within the four walls of her house for almost three weeks – till 21 February. And when she ventured out of her Fairview Residence that day to address party workers in Srinagar, she yet again focused on organisational matters, discussed ways to make the ongoing membership drive in the State a great success and reiterated that for her the vision of her late father was non-negotiable and that it couldn’t fit in the Chief Minister’s chair.
She, in fact, went several steps further
and, inter-alia, said:
I have been hearing since the last one-and-half months…that the chief ministerial chair was her father’s inheritance for her and she should take it. The inheritance of my father is not the chair. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s inheritance is so large than it cannot fit in the chair. His inheritance is courage, strength and the love for the people here which he always had in his heart. His inheritance is to tread those roads which nobody dared tread…Gun was not a solution to the issues of Kashmir which can be addressed through dialogue. She was happy that the BJP understood that there was no option other than what Mufti Mohammad Sayeed used to say regarding dialogue with Pakistan. America is a big power, but it has failed in Afghanistan and Iraq. There is Syria and Libya, are they not independent nations? But once the gun entered these countries, everything was lost. Gun does not benefit anyone…I would not hesitate to go against the tide if it suited the interests of the people of J&K.<b>(IANS, 18 February)</b>
That day, she also interacted with media persons at the same venue. When asked if there was any forward movement in talks with the BJP on government formation in the State, her candid response was: “Only time can tell” (PTI, 21 February). That was all that she said about the formation of government in the State.
Each and every word that she spoke on 31January,1, 2 and 21 February, all of her formulations, references to India-Pakistan
relations, United States, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya, gun, freedom and to
her father’s vision were self-explanatory and needs no further elucidation and
explanation.
Suffice to say that she wants to form the government with her own terms and conditions and that she longs for a regime under which New Delhi will have a very limited jurisdiction over J&K, Pakistan will enjoy equal sovereign powers with India in the State, J&K will get demilitarised in a phased manner and borders will become porous and irrelevant. This was the vision of her father (PDP’s election manifesto 2014 Aspirational Agenda)
Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the
BJP, who are already at the receiving end because of their “soft” attitude
towards the PDP, endorse Mehbooba Mufti’s line? Or, will they take such a
great risk just for the sake of a few berths in J&K Cabinet at a time when
the entire opposition, its own ally Shiv Sena and bulk of the Indian media have
been questioning the BJP’s hobnobbing with what they are terming as “separatist
and pro-Afzal Guru PDP”?
It is really difficult to give a definite answer to
these questions. The reason is that the BJP continues to defend its alliance
with the PDP.
It does acknowledge that “there are certain separatist elements in the PDP” but defends the alliance saying “it would not be politically prudent to deal with “Kashmir, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh in the manner the mainstream States are dealt with” (News24 debate on JNU episode, 22 February).
Let’s see what decision the BJP finally takes.
Post Script: Governor NN Vohra has sought the opinion of the Government of India on the dissolution of J&K Assembly as the deadlock between the two parties over government formation continues. Besides, Mehbooba Mufti, along with her mother Begum Gulshan, has planned to leave for Umrah later this week. Reports from Srinagar suggest that this would consume “at least two weeks” (Rising Kashmir, 22 February)