Early Times Report
Jammu, July 30: Jammu and Kashmir's former Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti's recent assertion that it was like "drinking a cup of poison" to run a coalition government with the BJP has very few takers in the state.
In her first public meeting since losing the chief ministership, Mehbooba Mufti was back in her previous avatar of 'rudali', crying at the mention of her late father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed while mentioning that she didn't favour a coalition with the BJP but was persuaded by her party colleagues and her father's associates.
Commentators, however, say that if she was not interested to become the Chief Minister in a coalition with the BJP, she could have easily done away with the coalition government.
"She took around three months after her father's demise to join the alliance with the BJP. It means she had thought it out well before forming the coalition. She had clear dividends in it and tried to make good use of BJP being at the Centre," a political science teacher at Kashmir University told Early Times.
Importantly, it was not PDP and its president that withdrew from the coalition government but the BJP that pulled out of it, leaving Mehbooba and her party members in a state of shock.
"If Mehbooba thinks that allying with the BJP was akin to drinking a cup of poison why didn't she pull out of the alliance with the saffron party?" asked the political science teacher. "Why did she wait for the BJP to bring down the curtains on the coalition government?"
"As long as she continued to enjoy power, it was fine for her to stay in the alliance with the BJP. But once the BJP called it quits from the alliance, Mehbooba woke up to find that staying in the alliance was like drinking a cup of poison. It's the height of hypocrisy. The politicians from Kashmir like Mehbooba should have some shame," he said.
He said the alliance with the PDP was actually proving costly for the BJP, prompting it to withdraw from it. "BJP was finding it very difficult to convince its vote bank in other states on its partnership with the BJP. So it had to grudgingly pull out of the alliance. The BJP would have otherwise continued to be part of the government in J&K if it hadn't hampered its electoral prospects in other states. Therefore, the PDP has no moral authority to play a martyr."
National Conference's Farooq Abdullah also slammed Mehbooba, saying that she was the "chief tormentor" during the coalition and her crocodile tears have no takers in Kashmir.
"The people remember clearly how she clung on to power despite being sidelined and humiliated by her allies repeatedly over the course of the last four years and how she surrendered every aspect of the institution of the CM's office to the BJP," Abdullah said.
Many say that Mehbooba is trying to switch to her previous avatar - a 'soft separatist leader' and is preparing the ground through such public meets.
A party insider says that the top brass had busied themselves in trying to find arguments that can save their face during their encounters with the public. "One argument that was floated during a meeting was about Article 35 A. We must present that we are the saviours of this Article and didn't allow BJP to tinker with it," says the party insider who wishes anonymity.
In a recent interview, Mehbooba hinted that the BJP wished to do away with Article 35A to which she expressed strong resentment in front of Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
This won't be enough, says analyst, to salvage her lost image in the public for her divisive politics.
One can gauge the desperation of the PDP, says a columnist, by the statement of its MP Muzaffar Hussain Baigh when he uttered words that did not suit his mouth.
Baigh also made a serious revelation when he said that corruption was rampant during the PDP-BJP regime. What was interesting was that he made the revelation in the presence of Mehbooba Mufti and several former ministers from the PDP.
Those who put hurdles to make Kashmiris a part of Indian union, says an analyst, they are not fit to speak about the Muslims who are proud to be a part of the nation.
The fact of the matter is, says another analyst, Mehbooba is still in shock of losing her chair.
"What she threatened the BJP with returned to her in a dramatic fashion. Her generations in future will remember the BJP's masterstroke and this is what Mehbooba is not ready to accept," she said. |
