Omkar Dattatray
Kashmir centric political leaders have a common trait of speaking one thing in power and totally another thing out of power. The PDP President and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is no exception to it. Out of power she spoke against its coalition partner BJP and equated the PDP’s alliance with BJP nothing short of drinking a cup of poison. Mehbooba Mufti spoke her mind out at the nineteenth foundation day ceremony of her regional party at Srinagar. She repeated the same thing while addressing her party workers at a function to commemorate the 19th Foundation day function in Jammu as well. Mehbooba is trying to earn the lost sympathy of her core constituency in Kashmir which is angry on her party’s alliance with the BJP to form a coalition Government. It is not for nothing that she has resorted to poison diplomacy. Mehbooba has taken recourse of the remark of the cup of poison to recover the damages her party has been put due to her alliance with BJP. It is very strange that her erstwhile alliance partner BJP also resorted to poison diplomacy when its state’s spokesperson remarked that it is BJP which has taken a cup of poison by forming an alliance Government with PDP in J&K. One wonders as to who has actually taken a cup of poison by aligning with each other. The fact of the matter is that neither the PDP nor the BJP has taken a cup of poison by aligning with each other. Both the parties were intoxicated to the fullest extent with the power opium and in the lust for power and cozy chairs they have aligned with each other to form government. It is a fact that while people of Kashmir are angry over the PDP’s alliance with the saffron party, the core constituency of BJP is also angry with BJP’s alliance with PDP. Mehbooba by her remark of drinking a cup of poison tried to emotionalize the surcharge political atmosphere in Kashmir. The tears in her eyes during the foundation day function was nothing except a drama and a theatrical exercise of winning back the support of her core constituency in Kashmir. The Ex-Chief Minister and NC President Farooq Abdullah is right when he said that drinking a cup of poison will not befool the Kashmiris and there are no takers of her statement. It is only the damage control exercise resorted by the Ex-Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. She has expressed the view that last two years and two months of her stint in office with BJP were very hard and she was under pressure from her alliance partner and the Central Government.
Whatever it is she has resorted to blackmailing tactics to win over the support of Kashmiris. Now it is to be seen as to what extent she will be successful in her effort to win over lost confidence of Kashmiris. In the days to come she will have to face a stiff political rivalry and opposition from National Conference. According to Mehbooba in spite of the resistance and pressure from her alliance partner BJP, she had stuck to the agenda of alliance and had fought for the rights of Gujjars and Bakerwalls by getting the order issued from tribal affairs ministry not to dislocate the Gujjars from the encroached land. She also expressed that she had restrained BJP from tinkering with the special status of J&K. Instead she strengthened the special provision of article 370 of Indian constitution which according to her is a bond between J&K and India. In fact, Mehbooba has shown her true colors after being unceremoniously removed from the office. Now by her emotional drama she is trying hard to consolidate her position among Kashmiris and is also working to further her base in Jammu province like her shrewd father Late Mufti Sayeed. Politics is a strange field where politicians of all hues and colors resort to different and strange politicking to win the heart of masses and lately poison politics has been initiated by Mehbooba Mufti into the political discourse of the troubled state.
It is not that Mehbooba Mufti only resorted to theatrics and drama for winning the lost confidence of Kashmiris, the BJP has also resorted to same blackmailing politics. The pro secessionist politics of PDP was fully manifested by the anti national statement of its leader and parliament member Muzaffar Hussain Beg who has threatened one more division of the country in the wake of mob lynching in the different parts of India. He said that muslims are being killed under the garb of cow vigilantism and protection. It is a double speak of PDP leaders.
While in power with BJP, Beg has equated Modi with Mahatma Gandhi and after parting ways with the BJP, these same leaders do not skip an opportunity to malign the saffron outfit. Coming back to poison politics it seems that both PDP in Kashmir and BJP in Jammu and elsewhere in India are emotionalizing and surcharging the political atmosphere to win over their respective lost constituencies. It is not the cup of poison which the parties claim to have drunk by aligning with each other but it was the cup of honey and power opium which they have drunk in order to attain the power which is the be all and end all of the present day murkier politics. Thus it is not the cup of poison which the PDP and BJP have drunk but the cup of power which they have taken, otherwise, there were no prospects of alliance of the north pole and south pole in the language of Late Mufti Sayeed. For gaining and sharing power, political parties can stoop to any extent and can disregard their respective political philosophies and ideologies.
The same was clearly manifested in the alliance government of PDP and BJP. While in power both PDP and BJP were busy in tasting the fruits of power and out of power they are leveling baseless and serious charges upon each other to hoodwink the gullible voters which is nothing but a shameless exercise resorted by the erstwhile alliance partners.
The cup of poison will no longer heal the damaged prospects of the PDP and BJP as both the parties have won anger by their selfish and cunning alliance for the sake of sharing power. Power first and power last seemed to be their motto and solving the burning issues of the people seemed their last priority. All this is nothing short of Mehboobian poison diplomacy and its reciprocal attack at the hands of BJP.
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