It was not an alliance made in heaven or forged in logic. In fact, it seemed the poles were trying to meet. The PDP talks of self-rule in Kashmir. For the BJP, total integration is an article of faith. It was natural that the contradictions would catch up. The timing apparently came as a surprise to CM Mehbooba Mufti. In an unkind cut, her arch-rival Omar Abdullah tweeted: “She was cutting ribbons, while the BJP was cutting her legs out from under her. How I wish she had left with her head held high & her dignity intact! She was J&K’s CM, not of the BJPDP.”
J&K’s first woman CM—no mean feat that—went out unceremoniously, ending a tortuous journey fraught with misunderstanding, a spike in militancy and a mass upsurge on the street. Mehbooba hung on to the alliance despite having little in common with the BJP, despite having won the mandate campaigning against it, and despite a huge erosion in support. Her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who passed away in harness as CM with his dream unfulfilled, was convinced of the utility of this unusual experiment. He believed it would help pick up the threads from Vajpayee’s time. He felt Modi’s mandate would help create latitude for a serious peace initiative—and funds for development.
Things went wrong from the word go. Jammu’s Hindu vote was incompatible with the politics of the Valley. In no time, the common minimum programme was a forgotten document. Instead of talks with “stakeholders”, within two months of Mehbooba picking up the reins, Kashmir erupted. The buzzwords? Burhan Wani, stone-pelting, pellet injuries, “area domination”. Interlocutor, ceasefire, all that came, but much water had flown down the Jhelum. Journalist Shujaat Bukhari’s killing came as a warning sign. The BJP has opted to junk its messy entanglement, and tap into the disenchantment it helped create. Returning to its old tack of blaming the “soft-on-terror” PDP will help it in the rest of India. Polls? Forget it for now. Article 370? Pandit resettlement? Wait and watch. Jackboots and smoking guns? Right away.
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