The militant mainstream politician who once wept at slain terrorists' homes, seems to have transformed into a mature statesman, espousing nationalism and fulminating against separatists for hijacking the brutalised psyches of the youth
There are obviously two Mehbooba Muftis. The militant mainstream politician practising soft separatism who wept and consoled at slain terrorists’ homes showing solidarity with the cause and then suddenly transformed; into a mature minded politician statesman espousing the cause of hyper-nationalism, appropriating the legacy of Sheikh Abdullah, recognising how he was right in siding with India and fulminating against separatists who are hijacking the brutalised psyches of the youth by handing them stones and guns. An anachronism but a recent reality.
Is this mainstreaming of Mehbooba Mufti driven by politics and the fact that she is now the Chief Minister of a troubled State or is there a hint of double speakIJ Of course, one will get to know in due course. What is interesting is that she helms the State at a difficult time and she probably didn’t bargain for this degree of complexity. last year when her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, without a doubt a nationalist and a statesman, released the dreaded Masrat Alam Bhat, all hell broke loose because it merely confirmed that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was soft on separatists. In the echo chamber of the PDP where soft separatism reverberates as a mantra, distancing herself from the erstwhile self-rule agenda and articulating a pre-1953 status for Jammu & Kashmir; Mehbooba Mufti’s speech in the Assembly this June was a virtual jack knife. She surprised everyone, throwing the playbook out of kilter.
Her speech was remarkable for its nationalist tone and tenor: “The Mufti always used to say that Sheikh Saheb despite being a popular leader of Muslim majority Jammu & Kashmir decided to join hands with India in 1947 at a time when religious affiliations mattered. But Sheikh Saheb took the difficult step which was right and is evident from the fact that other Muslim majority places are facing plethora of problems. This proves that this decision was right for Jammu & Kashmir”.
Her ideological leanings have always been the worst kept secret in Kashmir and she never approved of the idea, ideal and idiom of India like her father did. For Mehbooba Mufti to trash ‘vested interests’ after the calamitous happenings in the wake of militant Burhan Wani’s killing was even more momentous. By appealing to parents and telling them not allow anybody to play with the future of their children, she was advocating a new postulate for Kashmiri youth.
Saying that, “While certain quarters are only interested in playing politics over the dead bodies of the youth, it is the family members of these slain youth who have to live with this pain forever.” These are strong words from Mehbooba Mufti and they’re acquiring a nationalist hue. Take a gander at this excerpt from her televised address after the clashes between arsonists and paramilitia: “Unfortunately some elements are hell bent upon fomenting trouble, mayhem and bloodshed in Kashmir for their vested interests and are playing with the lives of innocent youth by instigating them to to indulge in extreme violence resulting in a vicious cycle of frenzy.”
Ever rising Kashmir recently dwelled on her transformation after coming to power. From her Assembly speech, here are a few more lines indicative of her ‘metamorphosis’: “To sit on this chair is difficult. It is not easy. It is a strange moment for me. Before me, a towering political personality of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s stature sat here. And my father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, too. I am the least experienced of all. My experience is zero. It is a difficult job, difficult moment, but I have to maintain the dignity of the Chief Minister’s chair”. It is her strong defence of Sheikh Abdullah’s controversial decision to accede with India under the Maharaja in 1947 by saying that “Sheikh was a popular leader and the decision was not accepted unless it was approved by Sheikh who went on to become the Prime Minister of Jammu & Kashmir” that has confounded one and all, for it has meant that she has taken a leap of faith. The piece de resistance — The roots of our ideology are so strong that they can’t be dislodged by any other ideology followed by the coup de grace.
Now this pro-India talk is not lost on anyone for it comes with a sense of unease. State BJP spokesperson Virender Gupta as recently as June 8 was vitriolic when he argued that the “soft policy” towards separatists has on one hand encouraged anti-India forces and anti-social elements and on the other, demoralised security forces and the masses. “Soft policy towards separatists is demoralising security forces who are fighting to curb militancy and sacrificing their lives. These separatists are continuously disturbing the peace by holding the valley to ransom thereby affecting business and tourism industry,” he averred. Remember that when the alliance was constructed, the Mufti himself stated grandiosely that it was a meeting of north and south poles. Nor have people forgotten one of the Mufti’s most controversial statements that “militants don’t need guns anymore because their representatives are now in the Assembly” still resonates in the valley. The Mufti’s own advisers in the past have told this writer that any solution of the Kashmir problem requires participation of both the separatists and Pakistan, along with India. Somewhere this narrative has been altered decisively with Mehbooba Muft’s recent utterances.
Is this pro-India nationalistic rhetoric permanent or temporaryIJ Has the narrative changed inside her mind because she sees the separatists for what they really areIJ Green and saffron don’t necessarily conform or converge for they represent the divergent right of Indian and Kashmiri polity. PDP emerged out of the ashes of history when in 1998-1999 heightened security excesses saw alienation and disenchantment of the populace. Kashmir itself has an interesting history of how the Sher and Bakra never converged and it dates back to April 1933 when the Sheikh Abdullah’s (Sher-e-Kashmir) followers duked it out violently with Mirwaiz Yusuf Shah’s goatee wearing Bakra followers during Id uz Zuha prayers. But that was a different eon and a different age. Of course NC and the present discredited Mirwaiz have never got along.
Television journalist Nazir Masoodi has captured the rise of PDP as a strong Kashmiri jingoist political formation: The party flag is borrowed from the erstwhile Muslim United Front or MUF, an amalgam of Kashmiri groups that lost the 1987 elections to the Abdullah-Congress alliance in a widely-believed rigged poll that is believed to be a trigger for the subsequent outbreak of militancy. The MUF became the Hurriyat Conference later. The PDP didn’t miss a single chance to accuse the National Conference of pushing MUF candidate Mohammad Yousuf Shah into militancy because he lost hope in the democratic process. Shah is now Syed Salahudin and the Pakistan-based chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen, the Hurriyat’s underground militia.
This is the journey of PDP as it seeks a more accommodative pro-India stance with its leader in the vanguard trying to evolve when faced with the vicissitudes of contemporary Kashmiri politics, wedged between the partisan and patrioteer groups that have riven Kashmir for their own benefit.