Before falling ill Mufti Mohd Sayeed led a hectic life working over 12 hours a day without taking any rest. Even at 79 he inspired younger members of his Council of Ministers to work hard and spend more time in the company of their electorate.
Even on December 22, his last day at work, Mufti braved intense cold wave conditions while carrying out an extensive tour of downtown Srinagar.
Two days ago he had conducted a similar tour of the various ‘hot spots’ in and around Jammu to ensure the timely completion of ongoing developmental projects. Mufti normally stayed away from Kashmir during peak winters but this year, the call of duty took him to Srinagar to listen to the grievances of the common people.
Mufti was considered a suave politician even by his adversaries. He was an organisation ‘builder’ and thrived on meeting party cadre and taking their feedback seriously. As a team leader he always promoted youngsters in the party and guided them through the thick and thin of their political lives.
He always believed in reconciliation and focused on providing ‘healing touch’ to the masses by way of taking his govt to their door steps. He won many a friends across political spectrum in his long political career spanning over six long decades.
He was a perfect host and cultivated media friends through out his life. He never ignored a valuable advice from any one in his close company and adapted to the changing political environment.
During his whirl wind tour of Srinagar on December 22 Mufti also paid obeisance at Aasar-e-Sharief Hazratbal and also reviewed the arrangements being made in connection with Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi (SAW) along with his daughter and PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti and senior cabinet colleagues. Ironically, he himself could not offer prayers on Eid as he was rushed to AIIMS on the same day after he complained of uneasiness.
During his 10 month long second innings in the office of Chief Minister Mufti had shared his vision of transforming the state of Jammu and Kashmir in to a hot tourist destination.
He even dreamt of hosting ‘Davos’ like economic summit in the world famous tourist resort of Gulmarg and passionately followed resumption of dialogue process between India and Pakistan to ensure peace in the region. Mufti had hailed the decision of the Prime Ministers of both India and Pakistan for their farsightedness and maturity in extending hand of friendship towards each other.
He was hopeful that the voices of people of J&K have been heard and hoped that the two countries will now engage in a comprehensive and sustained dialogue to reduce trust deficit which will pave way for more people-to-people contact, confidence building measures and broadening of the scope of trade across the line of Control as well the International Border. He even started working on the project and had recently inaugurated heli taxi services to invite high end tourists to Kashmir valley for the promotion of adventure and winter sports.
Mufti even saw potential in promoting Ranjit Sagar Dam as another hot tourist destination in the state and directed the authorities to develop the tourist circuit in Jammu region to tap pilgrim traffic.
Mufti was keen on empowering people by holding Urban local Bodies and Panchayat elections as per schedule. He reiterated his commitment to empower youth by ensuring devolution of powers to grassroots’ level institutions. Before hanging his boots he also took the decision to implement NFSA (National Food Security Act) in the State.