Mufti Mohammad Sayeed believed in healing
With the passing away of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, Kashmir has lost one of its tallest leaders and India an elder statesman. Irrespective of whether one approved of his politics, his commitment to the people and to this nation was above reproach. Well-regarded across the political spectrum, the Mufti sought to bring peace to his State, deftly handling Kashmiri sub-nationalism within the framework of Indian sovereignty. He also consistently pushed for peace talks with Pakistan, even when it wasn't fashionable to do so, and till the very end of his life advocated for reconciliation with our troubled neighbour. This was not so much because he just wanted an illustrious political legacy but equally because he knew that stability and progress in Kashmir would not be possible unless relations between India and Pakistan were normalised.
However, the most distinguishing feature of his political career was undoubtedly the manner in which he handled the often-complicated relationship between New Delhi and Srinagar. Over the years, he earned the reputation of being the Union Government's trusted pointsman in Kashmir. For the most part, this meant working with the Congress (with whom he himself had a complicated relationship) at the Centre, but even when the BJP came to power, the Mufti proved to be an invaluable resource. This, of course, was most evident in the aftermath of the December 2014 Assembly election when he played an important role in stitching together the ruling coalition between the BJP and his party, the PDP.
It was a landmark political deal as the BJP had never before held power in Jammu & Kashmir, and the PDP is in many ways ideologically opposed to the BJP. But the Mufti helped make it possible because he believed that such was the mandate of the people. Keeping the BJP out would have been grossly unfair to the people of Jammu who had overwhelmingly voted for it, and so, despite all odds, he threw his full political weight behind the coalition. Naturally, he was the consensus choice for Chief Minister.
The Mufti's political career, spanning almost six decades, began in the late 1950s when he joined the now defunct Democratic National Conference. In those early years, he created a niche by placing himself in opposition to Sheikh Abdullah. This was a bold political gamble given that Sheikh Abdullah commandeered the loyalty of most Kashmiris at the time — but it paid off for the Mufti who then graduated to national-level politics. In the late 1960s, he joined the Congress, rising through party ranks to become a Cabinet Minister in the State Government, and later Union Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi Government. In 1987, he changed sides and co-founded the Jan Morcha. Two years later, at a time when insurgencies were raging in different parts of the country and militancy in Kashmir had begun to rear its ugly head, the Mufti became Union Minister for Home Affairs in the VP Singh Government.
Upon his passing, the Mufti is being succeeded by his daughter and PDP co-founder Mehbooba Mufti. Though she is no political greenhorn, having been in the field for more than a decade-and-a-half, it will be a challenge for her to fill in her father's shoes. Our best wishes to her.