2 weeks Ago
Last Friday PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti announced dissolution of her party’s structure and held out a promise that it would be constituted afresh in tune with the new and emerging situation on Kashmir Valley’s landscape where the party ended up with three seats , its worst ever performance polls ever since its birth in July 1999. Politically and technically Mehbooba’s decision seems to have been prompted by the party’s dismal performance in the elections which were fought on emotive issues of Kashmir’s identity and dignity, which it claimed was at stake against the backdrop of abrogation of Article 370 that granted special status to the erstwhile state which had Ladakh on its map. Ladakh is a separate union territory now, and so is J&K – its statehood is hanging in balance.
The cold reality is that it is a Union Territory and all its hopes of getting back the statehood have been conditioned by a series of ifs and buts. The ground rules have been shifted after the polls gave a decisive victory to National Conference, the grand old party of Kashmir over 85 years of its political history. The fact is that PDP fought elections much more against its own rejection that rejection of the Article 370.
That’s bitter truth. PDP earned a stigma for itself ever since it aligned with BJP in the aftermath of the 2014 Assembly elections when it was greeted with its best performance – it had won 28 seats in Assembly polls. It was a rare success for the party – it had improved upon its tally of 16 and 21 seats in the 2002 and 2008 Assembly polls.
It was hoping for a shot at the government formation , but it lacked required numbers Congress had performed very badly in Jammu region – it was a different case in 2002 when Congress with 21 seats agreed to play a second-line role for the initial three years of the coalition government with Mufti’s party, which had only 16 seats . In 2014 , PDP fell short by 16 seats in the House of 87. And there were two options before it : align with the secular parties NC which had won 15 and Congress with 12 seats .
But founder of the party Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was apprehensive of such a political arrangement . His fears were genuine – NC , the long time rival of the party could derail the government, and aligning with Congress in Modi era was different from the Vajpayee era. Second choice was to align with BJP against which his party had campaigned aggressively and sought votes to stop incursion of the saffron party in the Valley.
But the catch was BJP had won 25 seats –all from Jammu region . This also offered a rare advantage . Mufti Sayeed a veteran of many political battles knew that keeping Jammu out of the government could result into disastrous consequences .
He had the experience of 1983 when Congress swept polls in Jammu region. Its main rival National Conference had put up a highly impressive performance and formed the government on its own , but dismissal was engineered through defections by Congress- Mufti Sayeed had all ears of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi . The government of defectors too came in for trouble and was dismissed in 1986 following communal riots .
There came an artificial accord between NC and Congress- the secular opposition was given a burial , the Muslim United Front , a conglomerate of Muslim groups in Kashmir came into being – the fear of which prompted rigging in 1987 polls which is blamed for all the troubles and violence that Kashmir continues to experience till date. After political compulsion of PDP and BJP brought two parties together in a coalition government The coalition government weathered many storms . But what went against it was not just the alignment with BJP, the party that Kashmiri Muslims didn’t like ,slain militants .
The killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in an encounter in south Kashmir on July 8 , 2016 triggered protests which escalated into a massive crisis,. The government was unable to control the street protests, clashes and casualties , causing a huge embarrassment to the Centre as BJP was part of the J&K government. PDP suffered as the dead and injured and blinded were Kashmiris .
She could not portray herself as a helpless CM because it was in partnership with BJP that ruled at the Centre . The collapse of the government was written in 2016 itself, though it finally happened in June 2018. This collapse of the government did not cause much damage to BJP, while PDP could not recover from it.
Leaders started deserting the party as no one wanted to bear the burden of the cross . Mehbooba suspected hand of central agencies in breaking her party .There were series of losses which she and her party had to bear after the 2018 – she herself lost two Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and 2024, and the Assembly polls of September-October brought her party down to three seats .
Iltija Mufti, Mehbooba’s daughter, who had kept the fire of resistance alive when her mother was under arrest post August 5, 2019 – the day Article 370 was abrogated , lost in her debut election from Bijbehra – the constituency which PDP had won always since 1999 – Abdul Redman Veeri had won it four times after Mehbooba vacated the seat which she had won on Congress ticket in 1996and resigned before founding PDP . There is a mood of reflection – it is for the party but much more for Mehbooba Mufti who has led the party as its president since 2003 . The party was solidly behind her after her father’s death in January 2016.
Emotionally broken as she was after her father and mentor’s death , Mehbooba took time to decide to walk into shoes of her father. She took almost three months before deciding to head the PDP-BJP coalition government . It is a fact known to very few that the Centre was very, very keen that Mehbooba head the government .
Apart from BJP leaders , particularly Arun Jaitley , those holding the constitutional office in J&K were deployed to prevail over Mehbooba to lead the government . The same very Centre engineered her government’s collapse in June 2018 . Perhaps in an attempt to resurrect the party and its fortunes, Mehbooba is seeking to validate the philosophy of the times when PDP was founded – dialogue with Kashmir to dignify its position in the political and social mileu.
Today, the task is harder than it was in 1999 . Mehbooba is tasked with inspiring leadership and loyalty. She wants to restructure the party with the workers and leaders who can work in field .
This has two connotations, PDP as a party of the youth, by the youth and for the youth,. But then she will have to look at innovative ways and make a convincing declaration that her regional outfit will stand for them all the time without falling for trappings of power . Good thing for her is that regional flavour has been recreated by NC’s victory in the elections on the issues of Article 370 and dignity and identity of the people .
She needs to be active and at the same time patient . She just needs to re-read the pages of life of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
