Vijay Gupta
In September, 2014 when the election fever had barely begun a disaster struck both the regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Flash floods induced by torrential rains caused extensive damage to both life and property in Jammu Province whereas the entire Valley was submerged in more than 10 ft. of water due to breaches in Jhelum embankments induced by unprecedented rains (partly) and shameless greed by men in power (largely).
When, an article published in a Valley newspaper (this article had forewarned of such an eventuality in the very first year of Omar Abdullah, a green horn, taking over the reins of this State) became viral on social media a visibly embarrassed Establishment particularly a senior Cabinet Minister, Chief Secretary and, of course, our ‘Green Horn’ Chief Minister blamed it on the Centre for not releasing 2200 crore rupees which they had sought for as early as in 2010 for warding off such an eventuality. Quite brazenly the buck was passed on to the Centre. For our GHCM, making the living and travel of top brass in the establishment had a priority over putting a bare minimum of disaster management facility at place. Even scores of boats believed to be owned by the Tourist Department were found to be conveniently marooned in the deep pockets of Tourism Officials.
And when the disaster struck there was no Government for many days. A forlorn looking CM seemed pathetically helpless. But an ever dependable but much maligned Army became savior for lakhs of stranded tourists and Valley residents. Quite strangely nobody was held accountable. Not even a single head fell. There, however, was one ‘fall guy’. An IGP Security who, like many of his peers was seen scurrying for a foot hold on a Jammu bound flight on the Srinagar Airport, was removed on the mistaken notion that securing Jhelum embankments also came under the purview of his duties.
A pro active Modi and his Government accelerated a massive rescue and relief operations right from day one. An equally ‘pro active’ State establishment took no time in seeking a massive package of rupees 44,000 crore from the Centre as relief without doing any spade work. A smart aleck in the establishment had simply multiplied by 1000 the figure of ’44’ from the BJP’s Mission-44′.
Amid the stench caused by thousands of drowned cattle, poultry and street dogs the only redeeming feature during and after this disaster had been the all pervading fragrance of ‘Kashmiriyat’ which many of us had begun to believe has been lost to Kashmiri progeny. Instances like – a Kashmiri Muslim family themselves marooned on the top of their second floor house, providing life sustaining essentials to a group of insurance company officials across the street through a makeshift supply line using a dead HT wire, a retired senior police official and his wife finding a welcome refuge in a small second floor attic sharing space with his large hearted Muslim neighbour’s family and Hotelier graciously refusing payment from his stranded guest, have been aplenty and do not let Kashmiriyat to be confined to ‘folk lore’ only.
After a brief interlude came elections. As usual the elections had been a long drawn affair and were conducted in as many as five phases spreading over six weeks. Results were announced on December 23, 2014. If 2002 elections were acclaimed to be fairest of all the elections in this State, the 2014 elections have been most participative. An election blitzkrieg launched by BJP under the direct command of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a view to achieving their hugely ambitious ‘Mission 44’in Jammu and Kashmir had put all the Valley political players on the back foot.
Though unlike elections for Parliament in May, the election campaign for the State Assembly in Kashmir valley this time was not overtly acrimonious but covertly, at the instance of pro militants lobby there was a massive campaign through social media which successfully dashed BJP hope of opening an account in the Valley. Mal governance of our CM remained unfortunately a non issue.
Election results on December 23, underscored a complete ‘divide’ in the Jammu and Kashmir polity as well as in perceptions of the two main regions of this beleaguered state. If PDP emerged as the most preferred choice in the Kashmir Province with 28 seats, the BJP almost swept Jammu Province with 25 seats. An achievement beyond the realm of reality only a couple of years back.
The ‘Twain’ was well defined.
And then started a period of search for alliance partners. An over beat BJP took no time in indulging Kung Fu type posturing and even made Omar Abdullah delay his departure to London. Not that BJP was being unreasonable but in our State where ‘K’ is the key word and ‘J’ has always stood (read treated) for Junk, the BJP which had hoped to do much better was determined to strike best deal for the people of Jammu. It also goes to the credit of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed the patron of PDP who prudently spurned Congress offer of unconditional support and also discouraged efforts by his party MLAs (opposed to any alliance with BJP) in cobbling an alliance of only Valley based MLAs.
Mufti has been sweating out at Jammu in summer months frequently for the last six years. He may not have won many seats in Jammu Province but his perseverance as well as sagacity in preferring BJP as partner in Governance in spite of many odds particularly a perceived though unreasonable risk of losing his potential base in the Valley will endear him to people of Jammu Province.
Both the parties have held extensive parleys, elaborate discussions and sought clarifications on extreme positions they hold on contentious issues for over two months and after evolving a Common Minimum Programme they had formalized an Alliance.
And then the ‘Twain’ met on March 1, 2015 when Mufti took oath as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir with Dr.Nirmal Singh as his Deputy CM.
The same day Mufti put a damper in the expected celebrations by making thanks giving gesture to Pakistan and a pro militants lobby in the Valley. This and a deliberate leak of a letter written by PDP MLAs seeking dead body Afzal Guru the very next day offended the national sentiment all over India and has been appropriately reflected in Parliament too.
Both these ‘aberrations’ have been engineered with a view to taking the sting out of Omar Abdullah’s barbs (tweets). Right to protect one’s turf seems to be enshrined in the CMP of Governing Alliance.
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