Good riddance to Mehbooba Mufti. Now, BJP-PDP divorce has raised hope in Kashmir
The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) grand alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — described by the late PDP founder Mufti Muhammad Sayeed as “the merger of north and south poles” in 2015 — has come to an end in the twinkling of eye.
On June 19, the BJP announced the ruling alliance’s surprise break-up saying that it was “untenable” for the party to continue in the Jammu and Kashmir government.
With the Opposition — Congress and National Conference — having expressed unwillingness towards supporting any new alliance, the state is headed for governor’s rule. The latest development, it is hoped, will improve the situation in the state by ushering good governance, as has happened during previous stints, when President’s Rule was widely hailed by the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
For the PDP, It has been an unceremonious farewell at a time the situation in Kashmir is edgy and little or nothing has been achieved through the joint Agenda of Alliance.
Unholy alliance: 2014-2018
Amid the deadly revival of militancy in the embattled state, the only tangible achievement of the alliance of nearly four years has been the number of militants killed during combat. For this staggering figure, too, the BJP alone has taken credit, saying “the number of terrorists killed in the previous UPA-II government was 471 as compared to 619 killed during four years of the BJP rule”.
But then, killing militants has pushed Kashmir to a situation where even a month-long ceasefire during the holy Ramzan couldn’t bring back signs of peace.
Since the encounter of young Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July 2016, more than 200 civilians have been killed, as many as 20,000 wounded and more than 300 blinded in clashes with security forces from time to time.
The situation in Kashmir during the PDP-BJP regime took such an ugly turn that the United Nations (UN) recently released the first-ever report on the human rights abuse in the restive region.
Though India has rejected the controversial report, it is noteworthy that the UN has never before expressed such deep concerns about Kashmir before, not even during the 1990s when militancy was at its peak. The report has largely focused on the tense situation under the Narendra Modi-led regime.
In her parting remarks after tendering her resignation as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti told reporters that the essence of alliance with the BJP was the vision document “Agenda of Alliance” and that it revolved around dialogue with Pakistan and Kashmiri separatists.
But the fact remains that not even one formal offer for dialogue was made by the government.
There was another irony about her parting remarks. After her forces exhausted thousands of bullets and more than one crore pellets on protesting citizens during unrests in Kashmir, she said there was no scope for any “muscular policy”.
In January 2016, after the death of her father and then chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayyed, Mehbooba was initially reluctant to succeed him as the CM, saying she was not satisfied with BJP’s support.
Two months later, however, she silently took over the reins, willing to work on the previously set terms and conditions. She worked like a pampered chief minister whose inexperience — she had never been a minister before — and misgovernance were ignored by New Delhi.
Legacy of corruption
Allegations of corruption and favouritism remained a hallmark of the PDP-led government, with many saying that injustice meted out to Kashmiri youths remained the main reason behind their further alienation.
On January 31, 2018, on the floor of the Legislative Assembly, the PDP was accused of making a staggering 40,000 illegal recruitments.
According to a news report published in Srinagar-based Rising Kashmir on January 31, raising the supplementary on his question, Pahalgam MLA Altaf Kaloo asked the then finance minister Haseeb Drabu “to clear the fuss about how the number of casual labourers increased from 60,000 to over one lakh”.
“Supported by other party leaders Shameema Firdous, Abdul Majed Larmi, Ali Mohammad Sagar, the NC legislator alleged fudging of the list by adding people who were above 90 years (old),” the newspaper reported.
“You have (even) robbed the JK Bank. People are now frightened to invest in the bank — you made 3,500 illegal and backdoor appointments in JK bank,” Larmi had charged at Drabu.
And then came reports that PDP ministers and senior leaders of the party were getting their relatives illegally absorbed into government jobs, in departments like the Khadi board and Social Welfare headed by Sajjad Gani Lone.
PDP ministers like Mehbooba’s brother Tasaduq Mufti, on the other hand, were accused of “gross misuse of power to benefit their near and dear ones”.
In one such reported instance, Tasaduq Mufti got his friend from Mumbai, Anuj Malhotra appointed as a traffic advisor — equivalent to the post of commissioner secretary at a salary of Rs 80,000 — without any interview. Questions about this recruitment were raised in the state Assembly but to no avail.
There were even complaints of discrimination in the distribution of government advertisements among newspapers that were not toeing the Muftis’ line, with a Jammu-based daily Early Times dedicating a regular front page column seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention.
But numerous such instances were never probed by the Centre despite the fact that Modi swears by his iconic slogan “Na Khawunga Na Khane Dunga”.
But then, why was the uneasy alliance stretched this far?
Well, for the BJP, it was its maiden chance to assume power in the state, which had been ruled largely by the regional parties and the Congress.
Having won the biggest-ever share of 25 seats from the Jammu region, the BJP wanted to further strengthen its base.
But four years on, Jammu continues to be a story of endless neglect.
Breaking the Mufti tyranny
Most prestigious projects in the region, including the construction of an artificial lake on river Tawi that began during the UPA regime, are yet to be completed. Work on the much-hyped AIIMS in Jammu is yet to see light of the day.
Further, the sentiments of the Jammu region were largely hurt when the finance ministry (held by the PDP) imposed a tax on helicopter fares for pilgrimage to the revered Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, a move which was condemned as the imposition of “Jaziya”.
Despite reassuring outraged devotees time and again, BJP ministers failed to get it rolled back. Being first-timers, they looked inexperienced, just like Mehbooba.
But then, in a bid to win Jammu and Kashmir, BJP was losing the rest of India.
Its allies like Shiv Sena had been openly criticising the party’s flip-flop approach in Kashmir. Now focused on the 2019 parliamentary elections, BJP has finally sacrificed the Jammu and Kashmir alliance.
For Mehbooba, life has come full circle. Since January 2015, the Muftis had set a tradition of unceremonious ousters in the government.
Apart from ousting the architect of the Agenda of Alliance, Haseeb Drabu from the council of ministers earlier this year, PDP had shown the door to many competent officers.
Two successive chief secretaries, Iqbal Khanday and BR Sharma, didn’t get a farewell from the state they had served their entire professional lives because the Muftis had issues with them.
Indulged by the BJP, Mehbooba had been so high on her ego trip that she got one of the most competent police officers transferred out of the state.
The then Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) SM Sahai, the smart cop credited for having brought Kashmir back to peace after the unrests in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013, was shown the door when Kashmir witnessed the longest unrest in 2016.
Sahai, whose tenure as IGP Kashmir had also witnessed a decline in militancy, was transferred a few weeks after he told the media that Mehbooba was aware of the operation that eliminated Burhan Wani.
Working against the tradition of transferring senior officials only after a Cabinet meeting, Mehbooba brought an end to the protocol. It largely became her sole decision — one that would mainly benefit the “Yes Minister” lobby.
But as fate would have it, Mehbooba Mufti’s indulgence has come to a sudden end. Abandoned, Mehbooba and her party have been taken by surprise.
“Badey beabaroo hokar tere koochey se hum nikle!”