People’s Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti took oath on Monday as Jammu and Kashmir’s first woman chief minister, but this has little more than symbolic value. Neither under Ms Mufti’s direct leadership of her party’s organisation when her late father and chief minister, the stalwart Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, was alive, nor in the course of her failed struggle with the BJP, her party’s partner in the ruling alliance, in the three months since her father’s demise, did matters concerning women of the state receive any particular attention.
This should not detract from the fact that the return of Kashmir to representative government after about three months of Governor’s Rule is a welcome development. It is better for a state to be governed by those elected by its people than by an unelected constitutional symbol.
The coming days could be extremely challenging in Kashmir, with a new breed of militants seeking to push boundaries, and the activities of ISIS, about which there is frequent talk, and the traditional Pakistan-nurtured jihadist outfits, needing to be specially watched. A popular government undertaking the task is a far better option than faceless civil or military bureaucrats whose actions offer little room for public interface, except those of a violent kind in a place like Kashmir.
It is widely believed that PDP’s association with the BJP has not been popular as the state has so far gained no special benefits from that alliance. It was in light of this that Ms Mufti conducted sustained negotiations with the BJP, at times at the risk of appearing to engage in brinkmanship, in the hope of extracting some visible benefits for Kashmir before she would accept the mantle of chief minister.
But Ms Mufti was rebuffed by her ally. Even so, she was obliged to take governmental office as her MLAs were thought to be keen not to be deprived of the perks of power. In such a piquant situation, Ms Mufti perhaps thought the better of remaining defiant.
It is uncertain how this might go down with public opinion in the Valley. In order to retain a modicum of political leverage, it may be in the interest of the PDP as well as the BJP to offer some real as well as psychological benefits to the state through focused measures. It is just as well in the circumstances that the key portfolios of finance, home and revenue will be retained by PDP, although the BJP was hoping to wrest at least one from its partner.
The Congress party stayed away from Ms Mufti’s swearing-in ceremony in Jammu. This was a needlessly partisan gesture in a sensitive state, although Congress’ ideological and political dissonance with the BJP are well known.
