BLUNT BUTCHER
JAMMU: Mehbooba Mufti has a reason to be annoyed with BJP; not because New Delhi played cool to her offer of realigning with it again but for the reaction coming from her father’s deputy. Insult to injury! Never ever during Mufti Sayeed’s 10-month stint as Chief Minister, the PDP treated BJP flock more than casual workers. And fair enough to the former BJP ministers, they did not overstep their shoes either. For them the biggest honour was to be in the cradle of government even if it meant humiliation to Jammu region and belittling of their supporters.
No sooner a word came from Vijaypur about Mehbooba Mufti showing inclination to form government with the BJP, Nirmal Singh rushed to media and shared his ‘thought’ about the government being formed ‘without wasting time’. He is conscious of the time as the past two months have just gone waste. He said the people wanted them-the PDP and the BJP-to form the government as ‘they suffered a lot during the Congress regime’. While he did not qualify the people, who are ‘desirous’ of having the government soon, Nirmal Singh dragged Congress into the picture unnecessarily.
The problem with many politicians in Jammu and Kashmir is to forget history. Despite a historian himself, Nirmal Singh conveniently overlooked the fact that the Congress played second fiddle always even when it had more seats than the other coalition partner since 2002. In 2002, the Congress agreed to be second to PDP which had only 16 MLAs and was third in the ranking, National Conference being number one. It willingly preferred to get dictated rather than asserting. Even when Ghulam Nabi Azad took the turn of being the Chief Minister, as per agreed upon arrangement, the PDP remained the boss and brought down the government as per its whims and fancies. Therefore, the assumption that Congressmade people to suffer is just a distortion of facts or naivety of being a politician. Nirmal Singh is not the one. Had he been the one, his words would have been measured. By saying that the people had suffered, he straightway blamed the PDP, which even now is taking credit of doing pretty well during that stint of Mufti Sayeed’s government. By not mentioning National Conference, the former Deputy Chief Minister is perhaps leaving a margin to have them as partners in the event of any political exigency.
As far as Congress is concerned, it never ditched or hurt the Jammu region as much as the BJP did in just ten months of its misrule. Its ministers brought disrepute to those who elected them and betrayed the cause of Jammu for their personal gains. While PDP had asked it to bow, the BJP preferred to crawl in order to enjoy the patronage of Muftis. Saying that the people want BJP to partner the government with PDP is a misnomer. Actually, the unsolicited reaction of the former Deputy Chief Minister is actually a sign of desperation, which he and his remaining lot is suffering since the passing away of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. Therefore, the PDP chief has a reason to be annoyed with the BJP for having got a response from a non-entity.
Mehbooba Mufti was candid enough in sending a terse message to New Delhi to reach out to the people of Jammu and Kashmir for assuaging their aspirations. She has been talking about addressing the political dimensions as also economic contours of the so-called Kashmir ‘imbroglio’, both of which are beyond the realm of J&K BJP, least the former Deputy Chief Minister. And, New Delhi (Amit Shah, Ram Madhav and company) have not considered her offer worth reaction. Nobody from New Delhi has grabbed the opportunity to end the impasse once the PDP opened up its cards. The only inference can be that Mehbooba Mufti has put forth her points before the Centre and her call for reaching out to Kashmir is to concede the demand for CBMs like massive funding, repealing of AFSPA, transfer of NHPC projects to the State Government, etc. Remember, she wants assurance from the Centre (Government of India) and not the BJP. She has made this crystal clear during launch of membership drive in the capital city. These issues or demands are obviously like red-rag for the BJP which is going to crucial polls in five states next month and two important states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh later. Given these compulsions, the BJP led government may not find it politically wise to surrender before the PDP, as the fallout will be colossal. That is something which is worrying the State Unit of BJP, which wants to get into the government by hook or by crook.