Desperate times,dramatic measures

Mehbooba says her partys agenda is not election-centric. Our role is larger. So is the role of our legislature,which the NC is belittling by confining the debate in the Assembly to water and power issues. We want to discuss larger political issues too, she says. Besides,we are fighting New Delhis mindset towards Kashmir,whereby things here have to be controlled and guided in the name of stability and in fear of separatists.

However,NC stalwart and Rural Development Minister Ali Muhammad Sagar begs to differ. He says that the PDP has turned politics into a market economy. The PDP is trying to respond to the public mood in a scientific manner. They gauge the public mood and then try to respond to it with a tailor-made slogan. But in politics if slogans are necessary,so is the need for the party raising them to really mean them, says Sagar.

To understand why the PDP is becoming increasingly desperate,it is important to remember that it has come a long way in just over 10 years. In fact,the most crucial part of its journey began in 2002 just four years after its creation in 1998 when against all expectations,it won 16 seats in the Valley and formed a government in alliance with the Congress. This was the first time that rival National Conference lost power in Kashmir through a democratic vote. Thereafter,the PDP went from strength to strength in six years in power.

The 2008 Assembly elections saw the PDP advancing its tally from 16 to 21 seats,thereby cementing its standing as an established political party. However,a second shot at power fell through when the Congress switched allegiance to the NC. Matters only got worse after the Lok Sabha wipe-out weighed in. Success suddenly seemed a distant memory.

Gul Mohammad Wani,a professor of political science at Kashmir University,sees many reasons for the PDPs desperation. For one,the Speaker has denied the PDP of the opportunity to talk about issues like revocation of the AFSPA Armed Forces Special Powers Act,demilitarisation,self-rule and human rights violations, Wani says. Closure of this channel has forced the party to move towards non-issues and otherwise forgotten matters like the sex scandal.

The other factor,Wani says,is the PDPs fear that Omar is emerging stronger with his clean reputation and the Congress-led UPA regime throwing its weight behind him. The PDP strategy is to disturb the political atmosphere,upset the NC-Congress coordination and create a situation whereby Omar becomes vulnerable.

The PDP is also aware of the big political handicap it bears in its electoral battles in Jamp;K: its ascent to power will never be decided by its own electoral victory as much as the Congresss willingness to join hands with it. It can never reach absolute majority on its own.

However,for analysts in Kashmir,the PDPs actions also stem from a struggle to consolidate an identity of its own. Academician Prof Sheikh Showkat says it is still a fledgling party struggling to find its moorings,and hence its search for a new political idiom and identity of its own. This is necessary as in the crowded political cauldron of the state,overrun by a medley of discourses and ideologies,consolidating and retaining mass appeal is an everyday struggle, he says.

And the PDP is no NC,to come out of a defeat unscathed. The latters 80-year-long history and deep roots in the psyche of Kashmiris allow it a capacity for political resurgence. The PDP,in contrast,is essentially an electoral party forged in haste to encash on the anti-NC wave. Third,the party won by default in 2002 as it was the only alternative to the NC. The PDP now means many things to the people in the state: first,a political rhetoric which articulates issues through the prevailing public sentiment; second,an expansion of the state8217;s middle ground,accommodating the Valley8217;s entrenched mainstream-separatist divide; and third,the partys three-year spell of governance 2002 to 2005 that ushered in a sense of security amid the prevailing mayhem.

When asked about the new turn in the PDPs politics,chief spokesman Naeem Akhter said the party was no longer a bit player. The PDP has proved its mettle in polls,even expanding its base in Jammu,where we took two seats in the recent Assembly elections, he said. The NC should realise that it is no more the sole arbiter and the PDP is no longer a fluke.