JAMMU: In politics, nuisance has added value than relevance. And, in the context of Jammu and Kashmir, the more the politicians indulge in India and Hindu bashing, the more they feel themselves relevant to the complex situation.
After her unceremonious, rather humiliating, exit from the corridors of power in 2019 with the BJP pulling the rug under her feet, the former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti resorted to reactionary politics. She cried from roof-tops that nobody will be Tiranga bearer in Kashmir if Article 370 of the Constitution of India is tinkered with. The constitutional provision granting the then state special status was anyway repealed. Nothing of the sort happened as provoked by the first former women Chief Minister of J&K. Tiranga is not only fluttering with all its glory across the Valley but has become a new symbol of Kashmir polity in the fast changing scenario. She does not miss any opportunity or occasion to malign India to satiate her sadistic ego, like any other so-called mainstream politician, who become ‘more loyal than kings’ when in power and worse than separatists when out of it.
Mehbooba Mufti demonstrated her umpteen love and pride for the nation while reacting to Rishi Sunak becoming Prime Minister of United Kingdom, tweeting “Proud moment that UK will have its first Indian origin PM. While all of India rightly celebrates, it would serve us well to remember that while UK has accepted an ethnic minority member as its PM, we are still shackled by divisive & discriminatory laws like NRC & CAA.” What a spin?
Mehbooba Mufti and her enthusiasts must be patting their backs for cornering India globally over the issue of Prime Minister Sunak but this is going to boomerang in Jammu and Kashmir, given the BJP’s confidence about having a Hindu Chief Minister from Jammu in the Union Territory this point of time. Those pitching for a minority community member, say a Muslim, as the Prime Minister of India are not supposed to oppose a Hindu from Jammu as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Mehbooba Mufti cannot play Rudali over the issue. She has left no room for even hypocrisy on this sensitive proposition. For the past 75 years, Muslim politicians, especially from the Valley, have been suffering from the syndrome of having birthright or copyright on the chief ministership, except for an exception in 2005 when Ghulam Nabi Azad from the Jammu region made a pleasant departure from the tradition. However, it was acceptable as he too belonged to the majority Muslim community.
The Kashmir mainstream does not mince words in their aversion to even the idea of having a Hindu Chief Minister in the State or the UT. Mehbooba Mufti has now paved the way for such a scenario if the BJP gets majority or emerges as the largest single party in the Legislative Assembly whenever elections are held. Such an arrangement will not be an exception in the Muslim majority J&K. The nation has seen three Muslim chief ministers in the Hindu dominated states of Rajasthan, Bihar and Maharashtra in the form of Barkatullah Khan, Abdul Gafoor and A. R Anatoly respectively, least to speak of Anwara Taimur as Assam CM, Mohammed Alimuddin in Manipur and M. O. H Farook in Pudcherry.
Now it is high time for the Kashmiri politicians to learn from the UK and work towards welcoming a Hindu Chief Minister, if numbers favour such a dispensation in the upcoming assembly elections.
Taking cue from the myopic leaders like Mehbooba Mufti, the veteran Congress leaders like Shashi Tharoor, P Chidambaram and their ilk, who created hullabaloo over the political developments in the UK, asking whether a member of the minority community could become the Prime Minister of India. Obviously, the reference was towards Muslims, as the nation has already seen an able Sikh as the Prime Minister for a decade.
The issue in the raging nation-wide debate post Sunak appointment as the UK PM is not about an Indian origin minority member becoming the chief executive of the country but the hurt lies in his being a Sanatani. This has created ripples among the pseudo seculars and many others, who have been mocking the Hindu credentials of Sunak. This is the crux of the matter. Otherwise if the Tharoor-Chidhambram duo really wants a Muslim Prime Minister for India, they must make the Congress to name their candidate from the minority community accordingly for the 2024 elections. But they won’t do that. Their interest is only to bring bad name to the country in their hate for Narendra Modi–a devout Hindu, who does not shy for his religious credentials, which he has been practicing openly with a sense of pride.