Dr. Tabasum Firdous
More than the dynastic tag, Ms Mehbooba Mufti enjoys genuine political credentials to entitle her to the highest political office in the State. Individually she emerged from the house of late Mufti Sayeed but politically she emerged from among the multitude of Kashmiri masses.
What endears her to the masses of people is how she identified herself with them not from a position of power but from the standpoint of a grassroots worker. To educate and guide the people of Kashmir and to bring them political awareness, Mehbooba travelled to all the districts of the State, all the tehsils and almost all villages scattered in the length and breadth of the State.
This indeed is an enormous fund of experience of public life. Although she could have picked up the elements of public life while sitting comfortably in the drawing room of her father, yet she chose to walk the length and breadth of the State so as to lay the claim of being the true daughter of Kashmir.
She took almost three months to take the final leap. Critics attributed the delay to a number of surmises mostly unfounded and misconstrued. Only observers with deep knowledge of the nitty-gritty of Kashmir politics can understand how much patience and astute political skill are required to cobble a Government that is expected to deliver. Brick by brick she built the structure whose base was already there and finally gave the green signal that formation of Government could proceed.
It is said that the coalition partners are ideologically poles apart. This is an ungenerous statement that touches only the skin and does not sink deep into the roots of the case. Although the Agreement of Alliance is there, and partners in the Government have promised to uphold its sanctity, yet it is not the real link that binds them into a pledge of serving the people of the State to the best of their ability.
What really bind them into camaraderie of sorts are the fundamentals of governance enshrined in the Constitution of J&K State. The Constitution provides for democratic, secular, and egalitarian political dispensation for the State. The coalition partners have taken an oath to uphold these fundamentals because these alone have the potential of providing development, progress and peace to the State.
In the post-independence history of the State, this is the first time that a woman has risen to the highest political office. For the women of the State this is a matter of pride as also of great expectations. Naturally, we expect her to address the issues specific to the women of the State. Illiteracy, backwardness, deprivation of rights, political disempowerment and non-representation in all the three organs of the State are some of the malaise of the women in the State. Ms Mehbooba has to provide encouragement to women as entrepreneurs, political activists, social volunteers and many more walks of life. Emancipation of women is of paramount importance.
Ms Mehbooba has accepted a heavy responsibility while opting for the leadership of the State. We are passing through trying times and total peace and restoration of law and order to capacity is still long way off. She has to keep the PDP-BJP flock together, through persuasion and considered leadership. In a sense it could be tight-rope walking. Many issues of public interest have to be dealt with. We expect her to give wise and reasonable lead to the State politics and create environs in which the people of the State will feel satisfied that their interests are safe.
An important and sensitive task before her is to respond to the sentiments of the people of all the three regions of the State. Identity of each region has to be safeguarded and space is to be provided to respective regions for their economic, social, cultural and psychological development. The litmus test of good governance of the coalition government lies in it meting out fair and equitable treatment to all the three regions of the State.
Finally, the new government would be well advised to do all it can for establishing cordial relations with the Centre. Sometimes irritants do appear between the centre and the state but these have to be resolved through understanding, perseverance and tolerance. The destination of development, peace, prosperity and restoration of normalcy is still far away. The path is still littered with thorns. Each step in that direction has to be taken with caution and confidence. The State has great potential in the areas of power production, handicrafts, tourism, agriculture and horticulture, water resources and forests etc. This potential has to be harnessed and for that purpose good and trustful relations with the Centre are among the pre-requisites.
If the coalition Government headed by Ms Mufti is able to deliver the goods and prove that the so-called ideological divergence cannot be a hindrance to the progress of the State, it will be a new and remarkable chapter in the history of centre-state relations.
(The writer is faculty in University of Kashmir, and can be mailed on tabasumf@gmail.com)
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