His Daughter8217;s Father

OVER all the shouting and slamming of the Permanent Resident Disqualification Bill, the person in the centre of the storm has kept a stoic...

OVER all the shouting and slamming of the Permanent Resident Disqualification Bill, the person in the centre of the storm has kept a stoic silence. But then Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed has never been accused of eloquence. He has weathered many such storms by simply not confronting them. And once again he has averted a crisis. The House is adjourned and the issue will come up only after elections.

Ironically, the bill that disqualifies women in J038;K married to outsiders from owning property in the state, affects one of his daughters Rubaiya Sayeed. The unaffected other8212;president of his People8217;s Democratic Party8212;Mehbooba Mufti8212;has turned out to be its most shrill advocate.

Mufti8217;s tactics are in line with his general principle of keeping all people happy all the time. The Congress may be his partner in the state but that has not come in the way of his friendly relations with prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The middle path is his chosen path.

As a child, Mufti8217;s family wanted him to become a religious scholar. Born at Baba Mohalla in Bijbhera, his father died when Mufti was just a child. He and his younger brother were brought up by their mother Aasiya Begum. His mother had religious ambitions for him and enrolled him at the Anjuman-Nusrat Islam.

Later he joined the government school in Bijbhera from where he moved on to Anatnag. He got his masters degree in Arabic and a bachelor8217;s degree in Law from the Aligarh Muslim University. Returning to the Valley, he started practising in the district and session court of Anatnag. But the desire to be a politician never left him.

Mufti, 68, was elected to the state assembly in 1962, returning again five years later. He remained a member of Legislative Council from 1972 to 1975 and was also inducted in the cabinet as a Works Minister for three years. He headed the state unit of Indian National Congress for 12 long years.

After the Rajiv-Farooq accord in late 8217;80s he was asked by Congress high command to join national politics. No one was more relieved at this invitation than his opponents in the state. In 1986, he became Rajya Sabha member and was inducted in Rajiv Gandhi8217;s cabinet as a minister of tourism.

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His tryst with the Congress ended with him joining old friend V.P. Singh8217;s Janata Dal. Successfully contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Muzzuffar Nagar, he was appointed home minister.

It was during his tenure that militants abducted his younger daughter Rubaiya who was freed only after the government released four militant leaders of the Jamm and Kashmir Liberation Front JKLF.

After a split in the Janata Dal, Mufti decided to try his luck in state politics again and joined his old party Congress in 1996. Two years later, he contested parliament elections from Anatnag and was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from Kashmir.

Seeing the future of Congress bleak in the Valley, he launched the Jammu and Kashmir People8217;s Democratic Party in 1999. This time in the parliament elections he lost to National Conference veteran Ali Mohammad Naik.

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The loss spurred him and daughter Mehbooba to strengthen their party base. Touring the state extensively, he roped in many of his old Congress colleagues.

The hardwork paid off. PDP won 16 seats in the 2002 assembly elections. With the help of Congress and other small parties, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed became chief minister.

On the campaign trail, he was never an articulate speaker, letting Mehbooba make the fiery speeches. Once he became chief minister, he became an ardent champion of an Indo-Pak dialogue. But most of the time, he is still content to let Mehbooba do the talking.