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| Will BJP safeguard sentiments, honour and dignity of Jammu? | | Hats off to Mehbooba | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 29: Hats off to PDP president Mehbooba Mufti. She has once again proved that she is for the fulfillment of her late father Mufti Sayeed's dream and vision, and not for the Chief Minister's chair. Her stand has been consistent on the formation of government with or without BJP. Ever since her father expired at AIIMS in New Delhi on January 7, she has been saying that she will not accept the office unless Narendra Modi Government took some bold political initiatives aimed at befriending Pakistan and addressing its concerns in the state and empowering her to safeguard the "sentiments, honour and dignity of Kashmiris".
Mehbooba Mufti said so on January 31, on February 1, on February 2 and again on February 21. She also reiterated her stand on government formation on Sunday, when she addressed her party workers at Anantnag after launching membership drive. Addressing her party workers, she, among other things, said: "She would not accept a puppet Chief Minister's chair that would deny her party a 2002-type role in peace-building and promoting friendship between India and Pakistan…Late Mufti's 2002 initiative of Indo-Pakistan friendship is in danger today. Jammu and Kashmir is not about governance alone. The state is entangled in assorted political and economic complexities both on internal and external fronts, which need to be tackled with resolve through holistic measures to ensure sustainable peace and stability in the State. There's going to be no peace until India and Pakistan halt their confrontation, until they sit together and respect each other. An atmosphere of sustained mistrust won't yield anything positive. Today, I don't see NC or Congress as a challenge to PDP but the fact that Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's 2002 Indo-Pakistan friendship has fallen in danger. The essence of my father's initiative was friendship between the two countries. It led to ceasefire on the borders and opening of roads through LoC. That's in danger today. Another challenge to PDP is the unemployment of thousands of our youths. Many of them are picking up gun…"
She further, inter-alia, said: "I am not an ambitious politician who would be hankering after power for getting the status of Chief Minister. I am not dying to see four flags on my Chief Ministerial car and a fleet of ministers following me with pomp and show. Let it be clear that I am not going to accept the Chief Minister's chair that doesn't benefit our youth, that doesn't ensure development and that denies a 2002-type role to the PDP".
She didn't just stop there. She further said: "New Delhi has to take some bold political and economic initiatives on the internal front to address the concerns of the State's people and do away with the past injustices done with them. Unless such measures are taken, no government whether formed by PDP, NC, Congress or BJP is going to make any difference to the people, especially at a time when alienation and cynicism has again started taking roots, especially among the young population of the state".
The most significant statement that she made read: "My father told me to look after his workers as he could not do much for them. But let me assure you whatever decision we will take will be in my workers' interest and also in the interest of people of Kashmir. Her party would safeguard the sentiments, honour and dignity of Kashmiris".
Leaders should be like Mehbooba Mufti who kicks away such coveted office as the office of Chief Minister for the sake of her constituency, workers and ideology. Who leaves the Chief Minister's chair? Only the likes of Mehbooba Mufti could do that. She could have become Chief Minister the day her father died like Farooq Abdullah and Rajeev Gandhi did, but she preferred her father's ideology and legacy and identified her with her constituency and her party workers.
Will the BJP draw some inspiration from Mehbooba Mufti and reassure its Jammu constituency that it will not compromise the sentiments, aspirations, honour and dignity of the people of Jammu province? The PDP and the BJP won equal number of seats in the 2015 Assembly elections from Kashmir and Jammu, respectively. Both had got the people's mandate on certain specific planks. The PDP has committed itself again, again and yet again that it will not hurt the sentiments of its constituency for the sake power. The BJP should also follow in its footsteps and reassure its constituency that it will rectify its past mistakes and assuage its hurt feelings by honouring the commitments it made during the election campaign and through its "Vision Document". |
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