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| Mehbooba needs something concrete to address her constituency | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 20: Almost two and a half months have gone by since the imposition of Governor's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir following the death of Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed on January 7 at All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, and there appears nothing on the political horizon which could even remotely suggest that an elected government would be in place in J&K in the near future. In fact, there is the possibility of the State Governor, NN Vohra, dissolving the Assembly and ordering fresh elections. The fact of the matter is that the gulf between the coalition partners - the sub-regional Kashmiri party, the PDP, and the BJP - has instead of being bridged has been further widened. Both the parties have, in fact, refused to step up to the plate for different reasons.
The PDP, which is a sub-regional, and not a state-level party, has to cater to the sentiments of its constituency in Kashmir and also to counter the NC, which has been fishing in the troubled waters ever since the demise of Mufti Sayeed. That's the reason that PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has set a number of conditions with the BJP and the BJP-led NDA Government not appreciating them. These are imperative from PDP's standpoint, whose alliance with the BJP, regarded a "pro-Hindu, ultra-nationalist and anti-Muslim party", could be justifiable if the Centre announced another financial package for Kashmir and reassured Mehbooba Mufti that she will have a freehand to run the government and carry forward the agenda of her late father. She can justify her association with the BJP only if she gets political and financial packages from the Centre.
The view in Kashmir is that that "right through the year-long association of the PDP and the BJP in government when Mufti Sayeed was alive, the BJP, whose strength lie in the predominantly Hindu region of the state, appeared to focus on issues that sharpened the Hindu-Muslim cleavage, and this was making PDP uncomfortable with the cohabitation". "The BJP has to change its attitude towards Kashmir and allow Mehbooba Mufti to run the administration the way she likes" has been refrain of the PDP, but BJP national general secretary and party's point-man Ram Madhav, has made it loud and clear that the BJP couldn't accept this diktat. His stand was the party's stand.
The fact is that the BJP, which is a party of all-India character, has refused to accept the PDP's demands seeking power projects, revocation of AFSPA, vacation of land occupied by the Army and so on, saying "any demand can be made by the state government of the Centre once the government is formed but no prior conditions can be put prior to that". What does this suggest? This suggests that the under-pressure BJP has finally taken cognizance of not only its Jammu constituency but also its constituency across the country, which doesn't appreciate the kind of politics the PDP had played after its inception in 1999.
It would be very interesting to watch the reaction of the PDP, which is reportedly likely to come either on Monday or on Thursday after Mehbooba Mufti met her colleagues and discussed with the political situation arising out of the BJP's stand on government formation in J&K. If the PDP re-stitches alliance with the BJP without any of its "important demands being met", it will have nothing to show to the Valley electorate, which is what it is. This is the most crucial political point under the consideration of Mehbooba Mufti.
A commentator and Kashmir-watchers has rightly said: "If elections are held in the coming months, PDP might go back to the people with some face, having taken the Centre on. If it returns to government with the BJP, and has a political struggle ahead at every step - as has so far been the case - then it may cede the electoral space in Kashmir to rivals" (in this case the NC). Similar is the view in Jammu and elsewhere in the country as far as the poll prospects of the BJP are concerned. |
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