Top NC leaders at PDP’s Iftaar party
Presence of top leadership of National Conference (NC) in the Iftaar party, hosted by PDP leadership in Jammu some days back, is something which was never witnessed in the past. National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah and party Vice President and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah attended the iftaar party. PDP President Mehbooba Mufti had invited them and both of them accepted the invitation.
It was a good will gesture from both the sides. Though significant in its own way, this development is not going to affect the political scene in Jammu and Kashmir in anyway. National Conference will continue to play its role as the ruling party and PDP as the opposition party. It was after years that Dr Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were seen together. Earlier, they used to hold meetings under PAGD just before and after the abrogation of Article 370.
These meetings were later discontinued as the parliament and assembly elections were held. Both NC and PDP fought the polls as bitter rivals as they used to in the past. In assembly polls PDP was almost crushed by NC, which got majority and formed the government. After the formation of the government, the two parties are criticising each others policies inside the legislative assembly and outside. With the panchayat, municipal and block development council polls to be held this year, this criticism will gain further momentum.
At present NC is not that much bothered about the PDP criticism since the ruling party knows that it is very much in control of the political situation despite big challenges on the governance front. Amid the dual power system, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is trying to strike the balance on every front. He is trying his level best to avoid any confrontation with the central government. At the same time he is ensuring that his party’s constituency supports his moves as he has been reiterating his commitment to fulfil the promises made at the election time.
This is evident from his speeches made in the assembly. His government’s demand is immediate restoration of the statehood. Even as the Kashmir based opposition particularly PDP has been accusing the NC government of deviating from its political agenda to please BJP, but the campaign is not affecting NC at present.
Rather than criticising Omar Abdullah government day in and day out, the PDP will have to reconnect with the people on the ground effectively to regain its lost political space. Once an alternative to NC and having ousted NC from power twice since 2002, PDP has to do something extraordinary to get back the people’s support.
Formation of a coalition government with BJP in 2015, proved costly for the PDP. NC fully utilised it to its advantage in 2024 assembly polls blaming its rival party of bringing BJP into Jammu and Kashmir and leading to abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A and bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories. In assembly polls, the PDP found no takers to its stand that the coalition government with the BJP was formed in the best interests of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and was guided by agenda of alliance.
However, the party keeps on accusing NC of joining hands with BJP by joining NDA government at centre when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. Omar Abdullah on the other hand says that NC was part of government with BJP at centre but never allowed the saffron party to flourish in Jammu and Kashmir.
NC has created a very tough situation for opposition in Kashmir. At the moment there is hardly any opposition left, which can unite and create problems for the ruling party. While PDP may not be happy with its position right now but it must be drawing a solace from the fact that the new parties which were formed by weakening it are nowhere in sight now.
The new parties too had miserably failed in the assembly polls. Right now the PDP’s intention seems to get back some of its leaders and cadres and at the same time connect with the youth, by highlighting their problems. Staying away from assembly polls after her defeat in parliament election by Mehbooba Mufti did not go well for the party. Omar Abdullah too had lost the parliament election but he leading NC in assembly polls did help his party in a big way.
Author is senior editor,
Greater Kashmir
