Yawar Hussain
Srinagar: DD, On January 7, 2019, an impassioned Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti let out a cry of disappointment at the grave of her father Mufti Sayeed in Anantnag, terming her former party colleagues, who left the party after its alliance government fell, as “garbage”.
“From this platform, I want to invite the youth of Jammu and Kashmir who are educated and interested in the resolution of the Kashmir issue to come and join us. All the garbage in the party has gone out with the wind,” Mehbooba had said in 2019 while referring to the spree of resignations from her party.
Six years down the line, Mehbooba is now welcoming back many of these “deserters” into the party fold, leading some political pundits terming it as classical politics of convenience while some others saying that politics is the art of possibilities as Mufti Sayeed had famously said in the backdrop of alliance justification with the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2015.
Omnipresent Centre?
In Jammu and Kashmir’s checkered history since 1947, the word centre, a reference to New Delhi, has been used in local parlance to refer to anything and everything believed to have the central government’s blessings.
When over two dozen leaders, including former ministers and lawmakers, left the PDP, Mehbooba accused the BJP-led central government of orchestrating the exodus from her party.
However, the return of some of these leaders has led to speculation as to who is sending them back.
Journalist Daanish Bin Nabi opines that in Kashmir, only those flowers can blossom which are approved and watered by the only gardener, New Delhi.
“When these politicians left PDP soon after the fall of their alliance government with the BJP, they did not leave the party on their own. It is obvious that they were instructed to leave at that time by the same gardener.”
“As you know, Kashmir is a place of multiple seasons. The gardener now feels that the season has changed, and he needs the same flowers back in the garden, hence the reversal this time,” Nabi said.
He said that in the coming months, he expects a surge of these politicians returning en masse to the PDP fold. “New Delhi wants them back in the PDP. Kashmiris shall wait with a heavy breath for the next move from New Delhi.”
Sources within the party said that the heightened activity is an outcome of a recalibrated strategy, agreed at the top level, under which the party can now take back the role of being the principle challenger to the National Conference as New Delhi’s alleged close allies—Apni Party, Peoples Conference and Democratic Progressive Azad Party—have failed bitterly.
“PDP is being seen as confrontationist in Delhi rather than as a force that resists. It has hurt us over the years. The party has decided to change that image. We need to be open to having workable relationships with everyone. We are now working on that,” a senior party leader wishing anonymity said.
The leader said the party has also decided not to unnecessarily take up matters that don’t pertain to Jammu and Kashmir.
“We always talked about Afghanistan, Pakistan and the issues of Muslims living in other parts of the country or even outside. The party has decided to focus on the people of Jammu and Kashmir now. The latter issues won’t get us votes from our people. The NC never takes up these issues and still wins,” the leader added.
“NC is part of the INDIA alliance led by the Congress. It also has a workable relationship with the BJP-led central government. We also need to be an inclusive party while not being in alliance with anyone.”
Sources within the party reveal that in line with the recalibrated approach of not being a confrontationist force, the party has decided to have workable relations with the government of India, along with building bridges with religious communities in Jammu region other than Muslims.
It is in the backdrop of this plan that PDP President Mehbooba Mufti met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha recently for the first time since the latter took office in 2020. In the meeting, Mehbooba’s pitch for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits surprised many. Even political pundits were flummoxed as to why Mehbooba chose the issue of non-Muslim Kashmiris in her first-ever meeting with the central government-appointed Lieutenant Governor, as the community isn’t part of her core vote base.
However, meeting the LG wasn’t the only recalibration tool employed by the party. Days after meeting the LG, Mehbooba organised a party programme in Pahalgam for the upcoming Amarnath Yatra, urging the locals to “ensure safety” of the pilgrims.
In line with its inclusive image makeover plan, the PDP recently appointed Aditya Gupta as its J&K Youth President. Gupta, a Jammu-based lawyer, had joined the party just two years back.
Sources in the party indicate that politics is at the heart of the appointment of Gupta so that the party could reach out to the populace in the Hindu heartland of the Jammu region, along with using the community’s goodwill with the current central dispensation.
A senior Kashmir-based journalist says that following the strong mandate of the NC and the drubbing of the PDP in the 2024 assembly polls, the PDP doesn’t have any other option but to bring back these leaders.
“Right now, other than Waheed Para, the party is only as good as the Awami National Conference. That said, it still enjoys the support of New Delhi, which wants to break the strong mandate given by the Kashmiri people. So, New Delhi would want the mandate broken in Kashmir.”
He says this is the reason why these politicians, once termed “garbage” by Mehbooba Mufti herself, are being taken back.
“However, this doesn’t mean that it will help the PDP, as Mehbooba Mufti knows well that the garbage gets collected to form a garbage dump that the PDP could become, as people in Kashmir understand the manoeuvres of New Delhi. The fate of New Delhi’s players in Kashmir in the last elections is its proof,” the senior journalist adds.
Structure Over Emotion
The PDP, which faced the exodus of over two dozen leaders, was reduced to just three seats in the current assembly, the lowest in its history since the party was launched in 1999. With the leaders exiting, the party’s grassroot workers strength was worst hit. It is this workers strength, which party insiders reveal is now the main focus of the leadership rather than just raking up the emotive issues.
A party leader said that while issues around land and identity in Jammu and Kashmir post August 5 are important for the party but these issues alone couldn’t get the votes for the party because the party structure on ground was non-existent.
“Emotive issues have been raised by leaders without getting the party’s approval since the government formation. That has been debated, and such leaders have been reined in. Such issues would now only be raised after the Political Affairs Committee’s approval,” the leader said.
While there is fence mending on the organisational front at the grassroots, the fence mending at the top hasn’t gone down well with a section of leaders, who in hushed tones blame the leadership of giving power to people who had deserted the ship or to the relatives of the party president.
A party leader from central Kashmir, wishing anonymity, said that the appointment of the two new general secretaries—Khurshid Alam and Abdul Haq Khan, who had both left the party and returned some time ago- wasn’t fair to the leaders who stayed in the fold after August 5.
“After the fall of the alliance government in 2018, many leaders who left had a problem with Sartaj Madni, Mehbooba Ji’s maternal uncle, who was vice president then. He is back on the same post now,” the leader said.
Another party leader from south Kashmir alleged that former party vice president Abdul Rehman Veeri and former general secretary Ghulam Nabi Lone were both disgruntled after being weeded out of their posts.
“Mehbooba Ji reached out to both, and only then were they back. But they aren’t also happy with people put in charge of the organisational affairs.”
Horse’s Mouth
Peer Mansoor, once an important member of Mehbooba’s kitchen cabinet, has also re-joined the ranks after fighting the 2024 assembly polls against the party.
On his joining back, Mansoor says that he had to leave the PDP following the political storm that hit Jammu and Kashmir after watering down of Article 370.
“That storm took away our identity and our constitution, and then I also had to leave in 2021. But I was born here in PDP,” Mansoor says, adding that in a family, if a son has some differences with his parents and he leaves for some time, that doesn’t make him an outsider.
Noor Mohmammad Sheikh, a former lawmaker who had left the PDP for Altaf Bukhari-led Apni Party, has also rejoined the bandwagon.
He says he had to leave the PDP after reading down of Article 370 because the then political “environment” forced him to.
“Many leaders faced many pressures back then, leading them to leave the party.”
He says that his return is an outcome of the changed political atmosphere in the Valley. “I have always believed in the PDP’s vision for Jammu and Kashmir. Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’s 2002 government provided a breather for Kashmiri people when they were frisked on roads. It is that PDP I have returned to.”
PDP Vice President Sartaj Madni said that some leaders who had left had some differences that have now been resolved. “They have realised that PDP is the only option, and that is why they have returned. It is the only party which can champion the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
The other returnees to PDP include former ministers Abdul Haq Khan and Syed Basharat Bukhari, along with former lawmakers Khurshid Alam, Yasir Reshi, Aijaz Mir, Choudhary Qamar Hussain, Syed Bashir Ahmad, and Mir Muhammad Fayaz.
Will this renewed party rebuilding passion supersede once-expressed strong emotions? Current progress leaves less ambiguity on that front but then politics was once described as art of possibilities by Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.
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