The lady holds all the political cards

Arun Joshi

Mehbooba Mufti, seen as a reluctant leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to take over reins of the government, is being held responsible for the current political uncertainty that has brought Jammu and Kashmir under the Governor's rule. The democratically elected government has been interrupted. She is firm that she will not take over as Chief Minister till the time the Centre comes out with action on the ground in a time-bound manner on the Confidence Building Measures for the state.

Mehbooba is moving beyond the temptation of typical politicians to form and head the government. She is inching toward representing an idea of the dignity of the people of the state by telling New Delhi that there is something beyond the coalition dharma of forming the government. That she could have done on January 7 itself - the day her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passed away, as there were precedents before her to tread the conventional path of a archetypal politician.

Instead, she is aiming at a higher pedestal for herself and her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, to rewrite the obituary that has been written so far because of the Mufti's "most unpopular decision" of aligning with BJP. Her idea is to chart a new course that doesn't stop at Raj Bhavan to take oath of office and secrecy as Chief Minister with emptiness around. 

Jammu and Kashmir is not an ordinary state; hence she has asked Delhi to do something tangible before it is too late. The delays in the past have cost the state and rest of the nation heavily. If what she is saying is to be interpreted in Delhi-Srinagar relations, she has opened a window of opportunity for the Centre. These are not conditions. She is asking the Centre to honour the commitments made to her father in the Agenda of Alliance. There is an opportunity for the Centre to bring Kashmir to its side with the needed political and economic steps. This needs to be done in the near future.  Nothing can wait for eternity.

Delhi missing a critical point - the profile of PDP - if it is reading conditions in Mehbooba's holding back, that she is being unreasonable, impulsive, perpetuating uncertainty, as National Conference, Congress and few in her party also suspect. The PDP was founded by Mufti Sayeed, Mehbooba, Muzaffar Beig, Tariq Karra, Ghulam Hassan Mir in 1999 in response to the need of the times.  It acts as a buffer in the volatile Kashmir Valley. 

At this point in time when Kashmir is facing new challenges and dangers of growing radicalism, locals joining militancy and guns catching the imagination of youngsters, Mehbooba has offered Delhi a path, not a road block, in reaching out to Kashmiris.

Is the reward of two power projects and smart cities for the state higher than keeping nearly two lakh soldiers in the state for the internal security? Economics should not be weighed when larger political goals are involved. Delhi knows what the situation is, and if Mehbooba can turnaround the situation, what more is Delhi looking for? She can. It is because she is Kashmiri to the core.

National Conference and Congress are trying to push her to form the government. Their idea is that if Mehbooba does not do that, she would be the cause for fresh elections - which everyone claims to be prepared for, but no one is willing to take the risk. Holding another elections, a little over a year after the last polls were held in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014, is a dangerous thesis. 

There is no certainty that there would be single party majority after the fresh elections. If Mehbooba forms the government, these two parties can work and pick up holes in the governance and hope for something in next elections. The political uncertainty at this moment is not greater than the street protests and killings in Kashmir in 2010. Delhi saved the government from further uncertainty that time by appointing interlocutors to talk to a cross section of the people in the state. It is a different matter that their report is gathering dust in the North Block.

Prolonged Central rule in Jammu and Kashmir has its own pitfalls. It was primarily because of this reason that Governor N N Vohra had made all out efforts to see a political government in place after Mufti Sayeed's death. He was willing to travel to Srinagar to administer the oath if the constitutional requirements were in place. He is the custodian of the Constitution and so went by the book and imposed Governor's rule. He did not appoint advisers until February 4 after it became clear that BJP and PDP did not have a meeting point on government formation, when he held wide-ranging discussions with them on February 2.

Mehbooba has put the ball in the Centre's court and has set herself on a mission to become the idea of reconciliation and honour with the commitments and convictions of her father as her inspiration. She doesn't know, but the fact is that she is has all the political cards in her hands at the moment. She is not worried because she is willing to get "consumed". There can be nothing worse than the worst for her.  Today Mehbooba Mufti is in pilot's seat to take off with power projects and smart cities and the rock solid support of Delhi. Tomorrow if she is consumed, there may be a dark alley staring at Delhi.

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