Bigger challenges confronting Mehbooba

The inability of the incumbent PDP-BJP coalition government headed by Mehbooba Mufti to hold the proposed panchayat elections in the state is the second biggest set back to the efforts of both the central and state governments to reconnect the mainstream political parties with the people at the grass roots. Last year the state government was forced to countermand the parliamentary bye elections for filling the vacant South Kashmir parliamentary constituency and this year the Mehbooba government was forced to withdraw its announcement on the conduct of panchayat polls in the state. So the biggest challenge for the Mehbooba led PDP-BJP coalition government is the disconnect of the mainstream political parties with the people at the grassroots the state. By all standards of political understandabilities the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti faces twin challenges of reconnecting the mainstream political parties at the grass roots and revive her own own Peoples’ Democratic Party which has lost touch with the grass root level workers. The attempts of Chief Minister to prove her political rivals and as well as critics wrong have failed as the mainstream political parties had advised her to rethink about the conduct of both the parliamentary bye elections for South Kashmir parliamentary constituency last year and proposed panchayat elections this year. While running a coalition of extremely divergent ideologies the chief minister has the disadvantage of facing the most authoritarian RSS controlled BJP Government in power at the centre. Since the Chief Minister is engaged in firefighting the controversies over the filing of an FIR against an army officer in Shopian civilian killings case and the investigation of the murder-n-rape of a minor Bakerwal girl of Kathua district of Jammu region, more difficulties are coming in the way of the Chief Minister in fighting the challenges of reconnecting the mainstream political parties at the grass roots and reviving her own political party-PDP in Kashmir. Unfortunate it is for Mehbooba Mufti that central BJP leadership supercedes the local BJP leadership of Jammu& Kashmir on every issue.
The repeated interventions of the central BJP leadership in the working of the state government are sending out a message that a popular government is not being allowed to run on the whims and wishes of the people of Jammu & Kashmir state. Such a scenario could deprive the people of Jammu & Kashmir of the benefits of a popular government which is expected to perform and deliver on all fronts – peace, security, , development and employment of jobless youth. Since seething anger in valley has already credibility of the incumbent PDP-BJP coalition government in the state, the political scenario developing in Kashmir is set to prove very detrimental for the future mainstream politics in the state. In the fast changing political scenario Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti faces the challenge of re-establishing the political writ of her government in coming summer months in Kashmir valley.