A defining moment for Kashmir

People of J&K have genuine grievances against Delhi. Meaning this coalition govt will be akin to walking a tight rope

In Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), 49 days of Governor Rule has finally ended with Mufti Sayeed taking oath as chief minister. The most significant aspect of this development is that the BJP, for the first time, has entered the state government in J&K as a coalition partner with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The state elections threw up a hung assembly with no political party managing to form a government in the stipulated time, leading to the imposition of Governor Rule. The PDP, with 28 seats, emerged as the largest single party with the BJP coming second with 25 seats.

This fractured mandate had created a tricky situation in J&K. The BJP won all its seats from Hindu-majority Jammu, but could not win even a single seat from the valley, whereas the PDP won most of its seats from the valley and even won in some Muslim-dominant areas of Jammu. Even after failing to win a sizable majority, the BJP’s Arun Jaitley claimed that since his party had got the highest number of votes in the election, it was its right to form the government in the state. However, the BJP later on showed its willingness to join the government led by the PDP.

The Congress, in a smart political move, offered its “constructive support” to form a secular government in J&K. It maintained that the PDP being the single largest party had the legal, moral and constitutional right to form the government. It had wanted a coalition government consisting of the National Congress (NC), the Congress itself and the PDP. The NC had also offered its support to the PDP, but the parties traditionally have been rivals, as both have support bases in the valley and in Muslim-dominated areas of Jammu. Given all this, the PDP found it difficult to enter into alliance with the NC. In order to forge an alliance with the BJP, it put forth five conditions, including respect for the self-rule proposal (softening of borders), revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from peaceful areas, strengthening of Article 370, a full tenure for Mufti Sayeed as chief minister and a comprehensive package and relief for flood-hit people of the state. In order to appease its voters and prepare them into accepting the BJP as a coalition partner, the PDP came up with the Common Minimum Programme, the main objective of which was to achieve political stability in J&K and ensure its economic independence.

Forming a coalition government was not an easy decision either for the PDP or for the BJP. But ultimately, the PDP preferred forming a coalition government with the BJP rather than the Congress as the former would give it some say in Delhi. In addition, with the BJP as a coalition partner, the state government will now have representation from both the valley and Jammu. The BJP also did not want to lose the opportunity to enter the state government for the first time.

Despite the BJP softening its stance on Article 370 and on the special status of J&K, it cannot be forgotten that it is still under the influence of the RSS. The issue of forced conversions of Muslims to Hinduism can put the PDP in an awkward position as the BJP has supported these conversions. The opposition has already warned the PDP to be wary of the BJP’s conversion agenda and has also added that decisions regarding the PDP-BJP alliance would now be “taken at Nagpur”, where the RSS headquarter is located.

J&K is at one of the most difficult crossroads in its political history. There is a huge difference between the political philosophy and beliefs of the two coalition partners with the opposition terming their partnership to be “an alliance of contradiction”. Mufti Sayeed is aware of this huge gulf and has called the coalition the meeting of “North Pole and South Pole”. The people of J&K have some genuine grievances against Delhi. This means that the running of this coalition government would be akin to walking a tight rope. There are some interesting challenges ahead for the BJP and the PDP. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope that they are able to overcome them for the sake of the people of J&K.

Published in The Express Tribune, March  3^rd,  2015.

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