Fear haunting Mehbooba

The utterances of PDP President and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti after escaping unhurt in an attack from stone pelters in her homeland Bijbehara spoke volumes about the fear of resistance haunting her on campaign trail in South Kashmir unlike North and central Kashmir. Mehbooba speaking about the low morale of her workers is also an indication that PDP cadres fearing public wrath due to the continuing cycle of violence triggered by civilian killings witnessed during Mehbooba’s reign of power are finding it difficult to rediscover the routes of reconnect with the people in South Kashmir. The display of public anger against Mehbooba does not make others particularly National Conference and Congress favourites in their fight for Anantnag parliamentary constituency. The fact of the matter is that display of military power during Mehbooba’s reign of power in PDP strong bastion South Kashmir has reduced its presence in North and Central Kashmir areas where defectors are denying the party any space to recover the lost ground. Mehbooba Mufti’s fight to retain Anantnag parliamentary constituency shows that her fate on this lok sabha seat would cast shadows on the survival of PDP in the fast changing political scenario of Jammu & Kashmit state.
Claiming credit for the ouster of two BJP ministers over the crime branch investigation into Kathua minor girl’s rape and murder case, withdrawal of FIRs against stone pelters and last year’s Ramadan ceasefire announcement won’t change the public perception about the misrule of the Mehbooba government ranging from issues concerning the attacks on students in educational institutions and traders of Kashmir valley in other states of the country to the legal challenges thrown up by BJP in Delhi High Court and Supreme Court of India till June last year when BJP called off its alliance with PDP. Indefensible defence on agenda of alliance (AoA) which was the basis of power sharing agreement between PDP and BJP shows that fear of public resistance haunting Mehbooba and her workers against an unholy alliance between PDP and BJP is the root cause of PDP’s public disconnect in South Kashmir the area which was instrumental in raising the numerical strength of PDP to magic figure of 28 and bringing down the oldest mainstream party National Conference to just 15 seats in a house of 87 members.