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| Why did Mehbooba drop Drabu from cabinet? | | View from Kashmir | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 15: The sudden decision of PDP chief and J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti to drop Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu from her Cabinet has triggered a debate. It is only natural. Drabu was dropped four days ago after he made a statement in Delhi seminar that the "problem in Kashmir was not political, but it was social".
Drabu had only spoken the truth because Kashmir had been at the helm of affairs ever since the state's accession to Indian in 1947.
Members of one particular community in Kashmir have been holding the office of CM since then and almost all the vital departments with Jammu and Ladakh being reduced to the status of its mere colonies where the people cry 24X7 for justice, parity and political and economic equality with the people of Kashmir.
It was not mere a coincidence Drabu was removed from the corridors of power in the state. Earlier in 2010, Omar Abdullah had removed him from the chairmanship of the J&K Bank.
According to Kashmir-based Kashmir-watchers, the PDP chief and J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti sacked Haseeb Drabu to restore the ground the PDP had lost over the period owing to the alliance with the BJP whose political ideology doesn't go well with the people of Kashmir belonging to a particular religious denomination.
"The move is an attempt by Mehbooba Mufti to not only 'restore credibility' of her party dented by the coalition with the BJP, by removing the architect of the alliance, but also to send a 'strong message' to her alliance partner," political observers in Kashmir have opined.
"After repeated snubs by the BJP-led Centre, instead of breaking the alliance, the party removed a man whom they nominated to stitch the alliance. The alliance continues but the man is removed and this way an impression is given that they have broken the alliance, or they will break the alliance if the need arises. We are going to witness interesting times ahead," opined a Kashmir-based political scientist.
On Tuesday, Haseeb Drabu had in writing cleared his position and said that he played the role as per the wishes of late Mufti Sayeed as far as the formulation of the PDP-BJP agenda of alliance was concerned.
He said: "He was nominated by the PDP founder for the job. Not for nothing did he (Mufti) entrust me with the task of negotiating with the BJP and make me the pointsman for the alliance which was later continued by Mehboobaji. Every single meeting, discussion and negotiations were done with the knowledge and consent of the patron and the president," Haseeb Drabu said in a lengthy statement to the media.
Political observers also say that after the removal of Haseeb Drabu from the Cabinet, the PDP-BJP coalition has become untenable and that it would not be surprising if the coalition collapsed sooner than later.
"With the 'pointsman' out of the picture and the major line of communication between the BJP-led Centre and the PDP in the state discontinued, it is very likely that the coalition partners will drift apart in the coming days and the state may be thrown into another bout of political uncertainty".
And as far as the PDP is concerned, it has held its ground firmly and said there was no question of compromising its ideology for the sake of power. "There will be no compromise on our party ideology and we will not hesitate to call it a day (with BJP) if the situation arises," the PDP has said. In other words, it has said that Kashmir is a political problem, which needed to be resolved politically. To be more precise, it has again reiterated that J&K was an unsettled issue.
In the mean time, the removal of Haseeb Drabu has jolted the power-hungry BJP. It has described his removal as a "great setback". It is quite understandable. After all, Haseeb Drabu was dropped on an ideological issue, and not on a corruption issue. |
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