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| Will Mufti magic work again in JK Assembly Elections? | | | Asif Iqbal Naik
Early Times Report
Kishtwar, Dec 21: After leaving Congress in 1998 and floating Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999,various political analysts of the country had termed former Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's decision of leaving Congress as a blunder and even speculated the end his era in the politics.
The veteran state politician after floating PDP with the party symbol of a green flag with pen and ink-pot, found friends like late Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Mohammad Dillawar Mir of National Conference and Rafi Ahmad Mir. The party then contested the 2002 elections and won 16 seats and finished second in eight segments.
PDP then formed the coalition government with Congress support and ruled for three years before Congress stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad took reign of state from Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Mufti bonhomie with Congress lasted only three years but that was the period in which Mufti started creating the party and giving it a credibility that is still with him.
Mufti's charisma helped the party to make such a turn-around in Kashmir by winning all the three LS seats of the valley and making his presence felt in Jammu division was not so easy for the 15-year-old party.
Mufti's political life has been a continuous struggle. After briefly practicing law, he emerged on the political scene in the days when Sheikh Abdullah was jailed by Nehru in 1953. For the first time, he was elected unopposed to the state assembly in 1962. In 1967, he was again in the assembly taking the same route and this time a Deputy Minister for Agriculture. He soon resigned and bounced back as Works Minister in Mir Qasim's cabinet in 1972.
Between 1972 and 1975, Mufti was member of the state legislative council. After the Indira-Sheikh peace accord, Mufti got the key assignment as heading Congress's state unit - a position he retained for 12 years, by then, he had evolved his own theory of keeping the state stable by having a strong opposition within the unionist camp, an idea that is still dearer to him.
With the full fledged entry of Mufti in state politics, National Conference which once represented more than 2/3rd of assembly seats is reduced to 28 MLAs and is likely to lose its ground further once the result of ongoing assembly election are declared on 23rd of December 2014.
In 1986 Mufti became a Rajya Sabha member and Rajiv Gandhi inducted him as his Tourism Minister. A year later, Mufti put in his papers apparently in protest against the Rajiv-Farooq accord. He also gave up his Rajya Sabha position. Mufti joined his friend V P Singh led Jan Morcha and successfully contested Lok Sabha election from Muzaffar Nagar in 1989. It was the peak of his political career when Singh appointed him Home Minister of the BJP-supported Janta Dal government, a position in which he was tasked to handle Kashmir situation.
Though he was Home Minister only for 11 months, NC has been accusing him for the crisis and holding him responsible for the tragedies that Kashmir witnessed. It also includes appointing Jagmohan as governor of the state against the wishes of then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah. Mufti spent many years in silence, shuttling between Srinagar and Delhi and finally mends his fences with Congress. Soon his status of PCC chief was restored that saw the re-introduction of Mufti to the new generation of Kashmir. Mufti regrouped Congress at a time when political culture had almost disappeared from insurgency ravaged Kashmir.
In 1995, Mufti made it to the Rajya Sabha. At one point of time, Mufti and Mehbooba Muftiwere the only two politicians who would operate in Kashmir. They claim to have pleaded for a better pro-people Kashmir policy in the Congress Working Committee but failed. It was in the aftermath of it that led to the floating of PDP in July 1999 after Muftis' resigned Congress.
Revocation of POTA, assimilating SOG into police, a bit of accountability and better communication skills were the basics in Mufti's basket. Within days he came with his economics and changed the entire fiscal infrastructure of the system. Healing touch apart, Mufti, presided over the death of a crucial bill involving domicile rights of the women marrying non-locals. Though he had the backing of opposition, his ally, the Congress made him to change the course of the crucial legislation, something that is lost forever.
Apart from staking claim over making Prime Minister Atal Bahrai Vajpayee extend a hand of friendship to Pakistan, PDP played an active role in the reopening of road to Muzaffarabad. Whether or not the cross-LoC bus moves, the memories of the 'change' shall remain with the people for some more time. After three years when Congress forced a change in the leadership of the coalition, Mufti did not stop. He made de-militarization a major issue and started a series of negotiations with the Prime Minister directly. There were debates, assurances and deadlines. But everything came to knots after the Amarnath land row. Though the crisis was partly the outcome of PDP, that shared the government with Azad, it was quick to create a situation in which it pulled down the government. For right or the wrong reasons, it fetched PDP a new benchmark that it has courage to give up power. In 2008 polls, PDP ended up improving its tally to 21 seats besides becoming the runner up at 18 assembly segments. But Rahul shook hand with Omar to form the coalition government. This was despite the fact that PDP had improved its overall vote share.
Politics requires a lot of patience and Mufti seems to have enough of it. He started building the party brick by brick. As everybody ridiculed his wisdom of keeping the gate open for all the shady people, he never felt insulted. He kept his doors open for everybody because he needed men. As the crowds surged, PDP was more visible. It happened without diluting any bit of what he thinks for his politics, party and Kashmir. In LS polls, he fielded his daughter from south and his two finance ministers from two other constituencies. From Jammu, he fielded Yashpal Sharma and Arshad Malik from Udhampur. Unlike NC, Mufti made Kashmir related issues of bread and butter a major poll issue. That proved a fundamental difference, something that even Omar admitted post-defeat. Given the prevailing anti-NC wave across Kashmir, he got all the three seats in Kashmir. His single biggest achievement is that Tariq Hamid Karra made Dr Farooq Abdullah to lose for the first time. He is now a giant killer. In Kashmir, where 1153483 voters came to the polling station, PDP got 533629 votes - making 46.26%.In Jammu region where it fielded two candidates, despite knowing that it is not winning, it got 199015 votes. From across state, it got 20.5% of the votes. Had it been an assembly election, there were more seats with PDP than with NC. In Lok Sabha elections, his party has won in 39 of the 46 assembly seats in Kashmir and at least one in Jammu.
For ruling J&K, only 44 seats in 87 member house are required. Had it not been the coalition between the Congress and National Conference in Lok Sabha elections, PDP would have easily crossed the 44 mark. PDP had worked a lot in Jammu before fielding the candidates. For last many years, Muftis had made Poonch-Rajouri as their second winter home. They visit smaller villages in the region. With NC restricted to Kashmir and its base in the Pir Panchal region unwilling to align with the Congress, PDP became a natural alternative that played a key role in defeating Congress in the region. Same was true to a larger extent in erstwhile Doda district where it lacks a better base. If one goes by what Omar Abdullah said, the Lok Sabha results are going to have an impact on the forthcoming assembly elections. With Omar's 'say' in Delhi gone for the next five years, he will face a lot of heat both from his ally Congress as well as PDP in ongoing Assembly elections. The rise of Mufti in the state led to rout of National Conference and its top leadership in the state. There is a million dollar question. Will Mufti magic work again or Abdullahs will manage to regain their lost glory? |
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