NC back , PDP gone

Peoples Democratic Party, which had emerged as thealternative to the National Conference, stands decimated as it lost all thethree parliamentary seats in Kashmir. The biggest loss for the PDP was thedefeat of its president and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir,Mehbooba Mufti, who lost Anantnag parliamentary seat to NC debutant, Justice(Retd) Hasnain Masoodi. Mehbooba was contesting her 7th election from southKashmir and she tasted her first defeat in her citadel. Mehbooba losingAnantnag seat has put PDP in more trouble.

In 2014, the PDP had won all the three Lok Sabha seats inKashmir and went on to win 28 constituencies in the Assembly polls, which wereheld soon after the parliamentary elections ended. The party joined hands withBharatiya Janata Party and formed the government in Jammu and Kashmir. The PDPleaders in 2015 would have never imagined that they would stand on crossroadsin 2019. The PDP patron and late chief minister of J&K, Mufti MuhammadSayeed at the time of forging an alliance with the BJP had predicted that thesaffron party has a “bright future” in India and his party has joined handswith the BJP to put Jammu and Kashmir on the path of development.    Mufti Sayeed took oath as the J&K ChiefMinister in March, 2015, but his death in January 2016 left the PDP and hisdaughter Mehbooba Mufti shattered. After her father’s death, Mehbooba tooknearly three months to decide whether to go with the BJP again or not. Butultimately she decided to carry forward the alliance which her father had approved.Soon after Mehbooba donned her father’s mantle and was sworn in as the firstwoman Chief Minister of the state, she landed up in a big trouble as thekilling of Burhan Wani in an encounter with the security forces in southKashmir’s Kokernag area triggered massive protests across the Valley. Theunabated protests and killings continued for nearly six months and the southKashmir, from where PDP had won most of its assembly seats was the worst hit.In fact south Kashmir was the epicenter of all the activities. Even after theprotests ended and life started limping back to normal in Kashmir, troubles forthe PDP didn’t end. It kept on losing its turf in Kashmir. On the other handits coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party kept its constituency intact inJammu and Ladakh and didn’t bother about what was happening in Kashmir. The BJPin 2014 had won two parliamentary seats in Jammu and one in Ladakh and in 2019it has repeated its performance by retaining all the three seats. The PDP hasturned out to be the biggest loser.

   

Some people say that PDP joining hands with the BJP was the”biggest blunder” which the party committed, while some are of the opinion thatthe party failed miserably on the governance front and couldn’t deliver what ithad promised to people. The trouble aggravated for the PDP in June 2018, whenBJP decided to pull out from the J&K government led by the PDP. The PDPleadership had not even dreamt that BJP would pull the plug and say goodbye tothe party. In fact PDP had put everything at stake for the sake of BJP but thesaffron party just ignored what all the PDP had done to join hands with it andleft the PDP in lurch.

Soon after the PDP-BJP government crumbled under its ownweight in Jammu and Kashmir, the PDP leaders started saying goodbye to theparty and one by one the top PDP leaders deserted the party. Despite being on asticky wicket, Mehbooba Mufti took a bold decision and decided to contest theparliamentary polls from Anantnag. But her attempt to lead from the front did notyield the desired results. She and her party stand cornered. The PDP has lostits bastion as well as New Delhi’s support. Just few years ago the PDP was themost vibrant party in Kashmir and everyone was of the opinion that if the partyrules the state for six-years, it would lead to National Conference gettingwiped out from the political arena of Kashmir. But it seems that the PDP hasreally paid a heavy price for allowing the BJP to make inroads into the Valley.And NC has once again made a strong comeback.

 (Javaid Malik isSenior Editor Greater Kashmir)

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