BLUNT BUTCHER
JAMMU: Desperate to woo Peoples’ Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti to continue alliance and form the government, Bharatiya Janata Party has activated Plan-2 by sending feelers about Najma Hephtulla to replace all important Ram Madhav as the party incharge for Jammu and Kashmir. To make the arrangement attractive for PDP, a word is being spread that since Madhav owes allegiance to RSS, the promises made in Agenda of Alliance (AoA) could not materialise. The urgency to have Ram Madhav replaced arose when dejected PDP announced to review the implementation of the AoA-a terse message that post-Mufti party won’t budge unless everything is placed in black and white. BJP can’t do it because RSS does not want it. So what could be the via -media to reach out to disgruntled alliance partner? Najma Hephtulla, a woman and a Muslim face of the BJP.
It is, therefore, not a coincidence for Najma Hephtulla to be in shivering Srinagar in connection with a function related to ‘Ladli Beti Abhiyan’. It was a deliberate and smart move by 11-Akbar Road. Hephtulla met Mehbooba Mufti but told curious media persons that it was just a courtesy meeting to share her personal grief. The new arrangement could have laid an impact but for skeptical Mehbooba Mufti, who doesn’t want to test the tested BJP. She knows how her father was belittled by the Sangh outfit while living and after that. The Cricket Stadium ‘snub’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to haunt the Muftis and the fact that highest political executive of the country could not make it to Bijbehara for the funeral of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed is an added factor.
The personal factors apart, the Peoples Democratic Party is in a fix to chalk out its future course of relationship with the BJP, a red rag and most disliked, if not hated, party in the Kashmir Valley. Each passing day is delaying the prospect of the government formation as the PDP President is receiving first-hand feedback from ground level workers. PDP is essentially a cadre-based party, which has been nurtured by the late Mufti with compassion and care. Even detractors of the Mufti know how he used to value the advice of the party workers. And, Mehbooba Mufti has no reason to ignore the feedback, as she is herself aware about the party’s dwindling graph during the past ten-months. This has precisely been sounded to her by Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, a friend of her father and an ideologue of Hurriyat Conference, who perhaps had counseled for forming government last March, even with the BJP. Much water has flowed down the Jhelum since then and the party that had emerged as a most powerful factor and potential alternative to National Conference is finding itself in lurch. Added to her worries is the arm twisting tactics of National Conference, which keeps emphasizing on PDP-BJP tie up, not essentially to have the government in the State but to put the PDP in dock. After all, National Conference has bitterly tasted public wrath for having aligned with BJP led NDA during the tenure of Atal Behari Vajpayee as Prime Minister when Omar Abdullah was Minister of State for External Affairs and subsequently by being a partner in the Jammu Municipal Corporation. The tie-up has cost National Conference hugely, relegating it from number one to number three. Obviously, PDP will not like to meet the same fate though much damage has been done during the past ten months.
The BJP has got to know the mind of Mehbooba Mufti. Ram Madhav-the points-man all these months-could not break the ice despite camping in Srinagar for several days in several spells after the demise of Mufti Sayeed. He had been keeping the 11-Ashoka Road abreast with developments on regular bases. Finding the current PDP leadership a hard nut to crack, the High Command had tried coercive measures like bringing the Ranbir Panel Code under NIA Act, a proposal made out by the Governor, knowing well he could not do it when the Legislative Assembly was still in place. The narrative set by the Governor boomeranged and the party was compelled to invoke Plan-2 in Kashmir. Najma Hephtulla is the main character of this plan and she has already taken a first step by calling on Mehbooba Mufti. This, however, did not work but she is known to be the one who does not give up so easily. She is resolute in her mission and now it is to be seen as to which of the lady scores point over the other. So far Mehbooba Mufti has played tough; she is likely to do in days to come, given the complexities in Kashmir and who knows she will ultimately have her last laugh. That will mean ‘pack up’ for the BJP.