Jammu
Emotional politics! Mehbooba Mufti wants Poonch-Rajouri to become another South Kashmir by deliberately touching sensitive issues; Peace is important over political gains
Emotional politics! Mehbooba Mufti wants Poonch-Rajouri to become another South Kashmir by deliberately touching sensitive issues; Peace is important over political gains
POONCH TODAY NEWS
POONCH: Former Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of J&K and PDP candidate from the newly created Anantnag Rajouri parliamentary constituency, Mehbooba Mufti, during her recent visit to Poonch and Rajouri districts, was seen deliberately touching on emotional issues like the “Topa Pir” incident, cancellation of thousands of FIRs during her stint as CM, the abrogation of Article 370, and other similar emotional issues to win the minds of the people here. Going one step ahead, she even indirectly hit the psyche of the common man of Poonch and Rajouri by saying that, when her father and she were Chief Ministers of J&K, they never allowed the BJP to fulfill its agenda.
In Jammu, Mehbooba never touched on these issues, but eyeing the vote gains from these two districts known for their nationalist mindset, Mehbooba and her daughter, Iltija Mufti, tried their best to adopt a south Kashmir-like emotional policy in these twin border districts. In South Kashmir, Iltija Mufti was seen branding the Army in questionable terms by saying that people there suffered from the Army and Ikhwanis, but she did not use the word terrorists to win the sympathies of the people strategically. It is important to mention here that Mehbooba Mufti was the same leader who made controversial statements against the tricolor before the abrogation of Article 370. Many of her decisions as Chief Minister remained controversial for the Jammu division, which remained in the media attention time and again. Now, Poonch and Rajouri, which are part and parcel of the Jammu division but were added to Anantnag to create this new parliamentary constituency, are at the crossroads, as there are strong indications that Mehbooba and her daughter wanted to psychologically unite the people of Poonch-Rajouri with South Kashmir despite fully knowing the fact that both regions have different outlooks. Although the people of Poonch and Rajouri are of a nationalist mindset, deliberate attempts by Mehbooba Mufti and her daughter Iltija Mufti to touch on emotional issues, a practice that remained favorable for the PDP in south Kashmir, may create unease in the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri. The late Mufti Mohd Sayeed, who remained Chief Minister twice, did a lot for the Poonch-Rajouri region as he was considered a statesman by some people, but the traditional stance of Mehbooba Mufti is known to all, and this could be the reason that she wanted to apply the same south Kashmir-like tactics in this border belt as well, which may have some repercussions from peace, prosperity, and internal security points of view in this nationalist region. Mehbooba and her daughter always used emotional politics in South Kashmir, and now they seem to repeat the experiment in Poonch and Rajouri districts, completely forgetting that the ideologies and thought processes of both the regions divided by Pir ki Gali are entirely different. Now, due to the rescheduling of the poll to May 25th, Mehbooba seems to be unhappy with the decision. Meanwhile, Iltija Mufti wrote in his social media post, “Anatnag-Rajouri elections were postponed only because they fear Ms. Mufti will win overwhelmingly. Only because they don’t want a fearless voice in parliament. But we accept this challenge and will make sure she wins by a bigger margin, inshallah.” Mehbooba Mufti was also seen in a confused state of mind and declared herself an MP in advance. In her Facebook post, she wrote, “Thanks to Sardarji for his kind words at a Gurudwara in Rajouri. As MP, I will take up the inclusion of Punjabi language in schools. After all, language is invariably tied to our culture and identity.” This clearly indicates that Mufti’s are feeling butterflies in their stomachs and have to redefine their policies as per the new schedule. Moreover, it would be better if both Mehbooba and her daughter Iltija opted to use wisdom over political gains, as, over and above, peace and prosperity in this Poonch-Rajouri region are of utmost importance and not tricks of the trade for mere political gains.
