Dumped by BJP, ‘desperate’ Mehbooba returns to ‘soft separatism’ to find way back to power

Mehbooba Mufti visiting a family affected by militancy in the valley | @MehboobaMufti/Twitter

Mehbooba Mufti had all but given up on PDP’s “healing touch” policy for 3 years as J&K chief minister when she toed a nationalist line with BJP. 

New Delhi: For nearly three years, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, shied away from anything to do with militancy in the state.

In two years and two months of those years, when she was power, her image took a battering in the Valley, particularly as the state went through one of its most violent phases this decade, with the perception gaining ground that Mehbooba toed the hardened stance of ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with regard to local militancy.

Over the past two months, however, Mehbooba has been sympathising with the militants and their families, in what analysts say is her falling back on the “soft separatism” that her party was once known for.

On 30 December, in her first acknowledgement of local militancy in nearly three years, Mehbooba shared a video from Patipora Pulwama of her visiting the family of a militant that had alleged harassment at the hands of security forces.

Visited Patipora Pulwama where Rubina (whose brother happens to be a militant )was along with her husband & brother beaten mercilessly in police custody. The severe nature of her injuries has left her bedridden. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/HX3JwVf8gh

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) December 30, 2018

It didn’t go down well.

The former chief minister and National Conference (NC) leader, Omar Abdullah, was quick to react, accusing Mehbooba of “trying to rehabilitate a badly damaged reputation”.

“The architect of ‘Operation All-out’ & the overseer of the operations that killed hundreds of militants since 2015 is now going from one militant home to the next trying to rehabilitate a badly damaged reputation,” he tweeted.

She used militants by sanctioning their deaths to appease the BJP and now she uses dead militants to try to appease the voter. Just how gullible does she think people are?

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) January 3, 2019

Before that, on 28 December, she had called moderate Hurriyat leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, to express her solidarity with him after a few Islamic State supporters barged into the Jama Masjid in downtown Srinagar.

It was the first time that the duo had spoke since Mirwaiz, who is also the mosque’s head cleric, joined the Joint Resistance Leadership, an amalgamation of Hurriyat groups formed after the 2016 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

On 13 January, when allegations surfaced that security forces had fired in the air to disrupt the funeral prayers of a local militant killed in Sugan, Shopian, Mehbooba condemned the incident calling it “very unfortunate and disturbing”.

Reports of aerial firing at Sugan Shopian to stop the crowd from participating in the funeral prayers of a local militant , are very unfortunate and disturbing . Such interference in the religious affairs is undesirable and may backfire leading to further anger and alienation.

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) January 13, 2019

Not everyone, however, is buying Mehbooba’s change of stance.

Senior political analyst and professor at the University of Kashmir, Gul Mohammad Wani, said Mehbooba has a lot of ground to make up to regain her political constituency.

“Mehbooba could not do it (meet militant families) when she was in government. At that time, the level of anger and hatred against her and India grew,” Wani told ThePrint.

“It has not come down and it is a difficult job to reduce the anger and hatred of the people towards the mainstream parties. The reaction to her visits in Pulwama has not been well. All her cards are exposed,” he said.

“When she is out of power, she will take up issues and when in the power she won’t,” he added. “One thing that is distinct about her and Omar Abdullah is that she takes extreme positions.”

From soft separatism to ultra-nationalism

Mehbooba had stopped appearing in public after the situation turned volatile in her home constituency of Anantnag, which is in South Kashmir, after Wani’s killing in July 2016. As the state lurched through some violent years, the image of mainstream parties began to take a beating.

The worst affected appears to be Mehbooba and Kashmir watchers are doubtful if she will ever regain lost ground.

A political commentator from the Valley, Sheikh Mushtaq, believes the people of Kashmir won’t forgive her.

“She survived on the soft separatist sentiment. Now, she thinks that after the BJP unceremoniously sacked her, this will give her precedence in mainstream politics,” Mushtaq told ThePrint. “No one will buy it. People are conscious and do not forget such things.”

Mehbooba’s situation is a far cry from the founding ideals of the PDP, formed in 1999 by her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, which was known for its “healing touch” policy.

The PDP core agenda was based on the demands such as “self-rule”, revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), use of dual currency from both Pakistan and India, among others.

Mehbooba herself was seen as the very embodiment of the “healing touch” policy. She was known to don an abaya, a green cloak worn by Muslim women, and mark her presence at every killed militant’s house, mourning with their kin.

During the 2014-15 Lok Sabha and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, Mehbooba used the killing of teenagers in 2010 and the use of pellet guns to attack her arch-rival, former chief minister Omar Abdullah.

But things went south for the party and Mehbooba after the alliance with the BJP in 2015, particularly as the PDP had sought votes to keep “communal forces” away.

Although Mufti Sayeed was the architect of the alliance, critics say that Mehbooba had a chance to repair the damage when he passed away in 2016, but she decided to go ahead with the alliance.

“The damage done to her image by the BJP is irreparable,” Mushtaq said. “It is going to be next to impossible for her to woo the electorate, especially in South Kashmir.”

Senior PDP leader Naeem Akhtar, however, defended Mehbooba, saying she never gave up her “healing touch” approach.

“In fact, she kept reminding the government of India, even when she was an ally of the BJP, about the necessity of dialogue, the futility of a muscular policy and made them agree to a one-month ceasefire,” Akhtar told ThePrint. “She got the Centre to withdraw 11,000 FIRs against stone-pelters.

“We have always said we are a part of the country but there are issues you can’t be a mute spectator to the continuous loss of life and property,” Akhtar added. “It was Mehbooba in Delhi who said that there would not be a shoulder to carry the Tricolour if you fiddle with Article 35 A or Article 370.”

The ‘toffee’ remarks that turned the tide

On her father’s third death anniversary, on 7 January, Mehbooba finally apologised for her remarks made during a press conference in 2016.

Responding to reports of security forces’ action against agitators, Mehbooba said that protesting youth do not go to the security camps to “buy milk and toffee”.  She was addressing the conference, seated beside Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Srinagar.

Her critics say that really turned the tide against her.

“People will not forget what she said. She won’t be absolved of this,” NC spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq said. “As chief minister, she was the chief of the Unified Command. It was under her regime that people were killed. Everybody on the ground knows these are just double standards.”

He added that Mehbooba was reaching out to the militant families “out of desperation”.

“In these three years she couldn’t save her party and she has ruined the whole state,” he said. “Now going to the funerals of the militants will not help. She is neither supported by the mainstream nor the militant organisations that she is trying to appease.”