Hardening her stance, People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti on Friday made it clear that she will not form the government with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu and Kashmir if the Narendra Modi dispensation does not create a ‘conducive atmosphere’ by committing confidence building measures for the state.
“There are problems within problems. To face these difficulties, we need to have support and, to have that, a conducive atmosphere (for forming government). If we get that, it is fine but if that does not happen, we will continue to move as we are moving today,” Mehbooba told party leaders at a meeting in Jammu on Friday.
Flanked by her brother Tassaduq Mufti and senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, she indicated that she was not looking for any financial package but the CBMs sought by her should focus on political aspect of the problem.
“It is not the matter of money. How much money has come and how much we have spent? When and how it came? But the issue is how will we create a conducive atmosphere so that the new government gets a new path and fillip to go ahead and create a goodwill among the people,” she said.
Her remarks reflect hardening of stance over forming coalition government with the BJP in the state which is under governor’s rule since January 8, a day after the demise of her father and the then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
The PDP, with 27 MLAs in the 87-member assembly and the BJP with 25 legislators, ran a coalition government headed by Sayeed for 10 months before his death.
Contending that she was not ‘resorting to blackmail or bargaining (with Centre)’, the PDP chief said, “The decision of Mufti sahab is acceptable to us... Mufti sahab had taken this decision (of formation government with the BJP) for the welfare of the people. His commitment is my commitment. But it is a tough trial for me in the wake of the void created by his demise.”
Arguing that Jammu and Kashmir is not like any other state of the country, she said, “It is not Punjab, Rajasthan or Assam. We face a lot of difficulties here.”
“We are going ahead on the path chosen by Mufti sahab. Mufti sahab choose his ideology and welfare of the people when the situation had risen for him to choose between power, welfare of people and his ideology,” Mehbooba said.
“We cannot form government in the air. The point is how to create a conducive atmosphere so that if a new government is formed, there is a way forward for creating goodwill among the people,” she said.
Asking PDP cadres to work to strengthen the party, she said, “Whether the government is formed or not, we should not depend on that.”
Suggesting that she was willing to remain out of power, the PDP chief said her father and party patron ‘had done commendable job even while being out of the government as well’.
“He remained out of the government for 40-50 years. He remained in the power for 10-12 years. Those who have remained in power for 20-30 years have not achieved that much as Mufti sahab have achieved.”
Asserting that there can't be any compromise with the principles of her late father, Mehbooba said, “I will not allow harm to be done to his respect, hard-work and conviction, whatever may happen.”
Referring to the criticism faced by her father within the party, she said, “Some people were unhappy against the decision of Mufti sahab to have alliance with the BJP. May be people will have complaints. But Mufti sahab had a goodwill and people would trust him.”
She said, “Several people on the two sides in Kashmir and Jammu may have not liked the BJP-PDP tie up but even after taken such a major decision, Mufti sahab went to downtown (old) area of Srinagar and was welcomed there. This was his goodwill.”
The old areas of Srinagar are considered to be pro-separatists.
Citing Sayeed, Mehbooba said if peace is to be restored in Jammu and Kashmir, then India and Pakistan have to come together.
“We need to work towards this,” she said.
Describing her father as her role model, Mehbooba said, “We cannot think like Mufti sahab, but we are carrying forward his vision. We were promised in 1947 that it (J&K) will be a showcase window to the world... but unfortunately it has not happened.”
“The people of Jammu and Kashmir were caught in quagmire of uncertainty,” she said, adding, “Despite his ailment, Mufti sahab strongly worked at the grassroot level because he wanted to do something good for the people of this state. He worked very hard for past ten months.”
Mehbooba, who has been criticised by other parties for creating political uncertainty, said, “People are resorting to rumours over financial issues. It is incorrect. If Mufti sahib started big projects during his 10 month-rule where from did the money come? There may be a delay in some projects.”
Maintaining that it is ‘not about finances’, the PDP chief said, “There could be a delay in getting finances, but if the government has to be formed there has to be a way for a forward movement.”
She said her father had raced against time by working more because of which he faced more health problems during the last three months of his life.
“Mufti sahab had come empty-handed in this world and has left back empty-handed but left a legacy of carving out the PDP. He has not amassed properties but created his ideology which is biggest property for me,” Mehbooba said.
She said Sayeed had created the PDP to give political alternative to the people in J&K.
“We were very much settled in the Congress at one time. We had very good relations with Sonia Gandhi and her family. They used to love us,” she said.
“Democracy has always been incomplete in Jammu and Kashmir. The Oppositions has always been muzzled,” she said.
“People like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish, Akhilesh Yadav, Jayalilitha, Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee or Congress and the BJP took to power and the democracy was allowed to function as a democracy, but, in Jammu and Kashmir, this was not allowed to happen. In J&K, the power was vested with only one party -- the National Conference -- in one way or the other way,” she said.
“Power in Jammu and Kashmir was considered to be ancestral property by a political party and it was the biggest example in 1987 elections and we are still removing stings from our body,” she said.
