Sidelined Star

In November 2005, when Muzaffer Hussain Beig was appointed deputy chief minister of JK, it seemed to be the climax of a long journey for the impoverished, intelligent boy from the nondescript, isolated village of Wahidina in Baramulla district.

IN November 2005, when Muzaffer Hussain Beig was appointed deputy chief minister of J038;K, it seemed to be the climax of a long journey for the impoverished, intelligent boy from the nondescript, isolated village of Wahidina in Baramulla district. But the aftermath of his dismissal reinforced the idea that Beig would be pushing envelopes all his life: It saw the first-ever public protests8212;including a complete shutdown in his constituency8212;in support of a pro-India politician in a stridently separatist town in 17 years of strife.

It was evident from early on that Beig would not be tied down to a nondescript existence. Despite studying in a village primary school with no electricity8212;the village got its first power and water lines five years ago8212;Beig stood first in the entire state in the Class VIII board exams. He also topped the state in his matriculation examination and subsequently again in his graduation. His brilliant academic run continued in Delhi University, where he studied law: Beig came first in the combined university examination.

But academics were never his sole pursuit. He earned his spurs as a student leader in the North Kashmir town of Baramulla, where he attended college. After returning from Delhi, he plunged headlong into the local politics, fought the Baramulla Town Area Committee elections and became its vice-chairman. Soon afterwards, he was rescued from the tedium of small-town politics by the offer of a fellowship to do his masters in law at Harvard University. He was among the four candidates from across the world to be chosen that year.

AFTER a brief stint at Donovan Leisure Newton 038; Irvine, the largest corporate litigation firm in New York, however, electoral politics beckoned again. He fought the Assembly elections in Baramulla as an independent, a bold move considering that he was pitted against the National Conference, still helmed by Shiekh Abdullah. He lost to the NC candidate but garnered around 80,000 votes, far more than the Jamaat-I-Islami, which won only 55,000 votes.

Though he lost the election, the campaign and the manner in which he conducted it announced the arrival of a major star. People still remember his fiery two-hour election speech in the town8217;s main market where, armed with a briefcase full of documents supposed to prove 8220;Shiekh8217;s scheming and self-aggrandising character8221;, he made a strong bid to undermine the legendary leader8217;s cult status in one of his main bastions.

Beig fought another election from the town in 1983, this time as vice-president of the People8217;s Conference, led by the future Hurriyat Conference leader Abdul Gani Lone. Beig lost again to the NC.

Appointed Advocate-General of the state in 1985, when Jagmohan was the governor, Beig resigned after Farooq Abdullah returned to power and moved to New Delhi, where he worked as a senior advocate in the Supreme Court. He returned to the Valley only in 1998, this time to fight the Parliamentary election from Baramulla, which he again lost to NC candidate Saifuddin Soz. Beig says he was persuaded to contest that election by his future bete noire in PDP Ghulam Hassan Mir, who revolted against the party when Beig was made deputy chief minister.

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IN 1999, Beig founded the People8217;s Democratic Party, together with Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and Ghulam Hassan. 8220;I was the second to sign the party constitution after Mufti Sahib and Mir Sahib signed after me,8221; Beig says. In October 2002, just three years after the PDP was launched, the unthinkable happened: The party was able to dislodge the NC as the dominant party in the Valley. 8220;From nobodies, we suddenly became rulers,8221; Beig says.

The 53-year-old Beig quickly became the most articulate face of the new dispensation. He was the minister of Finance, Planning, Law and Parliamentary Affairs in the PDP period of the coalition government. When the Congress took over the government in November 2005, Beig not only retained his earlier portfolios with additional charge of Tourism but was also made deputy CM. It was his growing proximity to CM Ghulam Nabi Azad that triggered his removal from office, but, as the Baramullah protests show, his story is far from over.