AARYAN SHARMA
JAMMU: Before packing her bags and shifting base to the summer capital for next six months, first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti made all the right moves to win hearts and minds of the people of Jammu region. Her real challenge would now be conquering the Kashmir Valley, especially at a time when recent incidents of unrest in Handwara and Kupwara created discord between the PDPBJP alliance government and the local masses. The mainstream opposition parties tried their level best to derail her applecart but Mehbooba Mufti steered clear various roadblocks with dexterity. Though first three weeks is too small a period to judge her work but it can be safely assumed she is heading in the right direction as regards implementation of the Agenda of Alliance is concerned.
Unlike her father, she is not striking any discordant notes and producing noise to disturb peace of mind of her alliance partner BJP. She has rather shown her willingness to embark on a journey where she is able to deliver goods for the welfare of the common masses. During various review meetings chaired by the Chief Minister she has shown eagerness to address the core issues and remove the bottlenecks to fast track the completion of pending works and meet the deadlines.
Be it a completion of border tourism projects in the pipe line, improving power scenario in the state and focusing on improving road network, she is keen on joining the bandwagon in tune with the policies of the Union Government to ensure early completion of flag ship projects. She is equally focusing her energies on capacity building of institutions in the State and is keen on striking a balance. On governance front, which has remained least priority for successive governments, the Chief Minister has shown a sort of seriousness and set an agenda. In unambiguous terms, she has asked members of her Council of Ministers to dispose of the files, submitted for their consideration, within three days while the CM Office is under directions to have all files and communications cleared in two days.
Setting deadlines for ‘moribund’ Jammu and Kashmir administration may be a tall order but given the grit, she is showing, the day does not seem too far when ministers and Babus will start delivering. This will be a breather in otherwise choked administrative environment that is also one of the reasons for alienation of the people. Without creating much noise or indulging in fanfare, the new Chief Minister has created an aura of confidence notwithstanding initial hiccups. She has succeeded in ensuring convergence on key issue despite divergent nature of the coalition. Mehbooba Mufti faced tough times during unrest in NIT campus and civilian killings in Handwara and Kupwara but the manner in which she reached out to the civilian population with a firm resolve to punish the guilty she was able to restore normalcy.
After the reopening of the Durbar Move offices in Srinagar she would be facing another litmus test of restricting separatist forces in their bastions and not allow them to regroup and reassert their authority to derail the peace process, organising peaceful Shri Amarnath yatra, decide on the date of local bodies elections so as to send across the message that the first woman Chief Minister is in full control of the situation on ground zero.
