| The bickering between the ruling coalition partners in Jammu and Kashmir seems to have reached an all-time high with the two major parties --- the Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) --- missing no opportunity to pounce on each other. Despite being part of the coalition government, the PDP is potentially conducting itself as if it was in the opposition. In this emerging political landscape, the Congress and the PDP are as apart from each other as they are from the opposition National Conference (NC).
A characteristically generous mix of allegations and counter allegations has been filling the air for quite some time now making the mainstream political situation quite brittle in the insurgency-wrecked state.
The discontent between the PDP and the Congress began when Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was forced to vacate the chief minister's chair for the Congress candidate Ghulam Nabi Azad in late 2005 according to the power sharing agreement. Since then the PDP started raising issues, from demilitarization to withdrawal of special powers to the armed forces, to corner its coalition partner Congress. Though in essence, these issues existed in the separatist realm even while PDP was in the driving seat. In turn, Azad has so far responded by consistently attempting to project himself as focused on economic development and eradication of corruption in the state. "After the change of guard PDP has only tried to raise issues to enhance its own image rather than adhering to coalition principles," says a senior Congress leader.
PDP's discourse is mainly powered by the demilitarization debate which is continuously pulling parties in the coalition away from each other. Perhaps to stave off any anti incumbency factor all the players within the coalition are fuelling this drift to consolidate and expand their respective constituencies. However, Sayeed's PDP has so far got nothing from its demands of demilitarization and withdrawal of special powers to the armed forces. On the other hand, reports of increased infiltration have strengthened the Congress party's opposition to any degree of demilitarization yet.
Though there are no signs of an early election in the state, these demands seem to have forced the mainstream political parties into an election mode about a year and half before the polls to the state legislature are due. And regional mainstream parties are trying hard to translate the demands of demilitarization and talks with separatists into poll slogans.
Apparently for a face saving, when the PDP president Mehbooba Mufti met with army's corps commander in Srinagar late last month (June 22), Congress saw a "secret deal" between the two ahead of the state legislative elections due next year. "People are now witnessing the real motive behind the bogey of demilitarization as Kashmiris have begun to spot a secret pact between the PDP chief and Army," said Abdul Gani Vakil, a Congress leader and one of the closest political aide's of chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
In an attempt to project itself as the only guardian of the interests of Kashmiris, the PDP hit back accusing the state government of "undoing" the good work started when its patriarch Sayeed occupied the top chair.
As an argument, the PDP uses the now stalled Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DAIICT) at Srinagar. Sayeed had wooed the Reliance Group to set up the institute in 2003 and provide 30 percent reservation to the state subjects. Reliance (Anil Ambani) Group recently wrote to the state government threatening to take the project to Orissa if clearance was not given soon.
In his characteristic style Azad is directly selling the idea "development is freedom" to the people by paraphrasing it as a slogan "Khushal (Prosperous) Kashmir". Analysts say this as Azad's only response to the political undercurrents in the state may be inadequate. "I have not come here to sell dreams but undertake development works and transform the state's economic profile," says Azad. In an apparent reference to the PDP, he adds: "There are many of us to make politics. I have not come to create a vote-bank."
Congress's limitation of Delhi-centric approach to Kashmir allows Sayeed to craft a neo-separatist political rhetoric short of directly confronting New Delhi. The PDP patron has taken his rhetoric to seemingly statesmanlike heights wherein he undermines the chief minister and directly addresses to the prime minister in the process creating more bitterness among the coalition partners. This stiff posturing afforded by PDP comes from the realization that Congress party's Delhi inspired approach does not allow it to enter the neo-separatist theatre where slogans of high rhetoric value are being continuously churned that resonate with Kashmiri people, at least at a sentimental level.
Analysts say Sayeed is trying hard to convert the emerging space into a conceptual political umbrella under which most separatist and mainstream positions minus his ally Congress could live simultaneously. "The political forces in the state should be given full space to assert themselves as a matter of right and not as a concession," says Sayeed.
Interestingly, Sayeed's neo-separatism is getting only 'competition' from state's single largest party NC, which is also been trying to bite its share from the separatism pie. Consistently calling for a dialogue with the Kashmir's largest militant group, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the NC president Omar Abdullah, too has been training himself in the craft of reclaiming its vote bank using separatist rhetoric as an approach. "I see no reason why it can't happen now. When the NC was ruling the state, we initiated talks with Hizb," says junior Abdullah who survived a grenade attack during a political rally in north Kashmir's Handwara area on July 9.
In this whole dynamic Congress party is slowly getting isolated at least in Kashmir valley. In this not so rosy a situation, Azad's only mantra of development and fight against corruption does not find enough resonance even in the bureaucracy. In a shocking revelation, Azad said that he had got a whopping sum of 5,000 crore rupees for the state's development from New Delhi during his tenure as chief minister but his officials had spent only 100 crore rupees "in an attempt to force him withdraw his Jihad against corruption".
Azad may sound idealistic in his public pronouncements that he had not come to play politics in the trouble-torn state, but for his party colleagues who would want to see development translate into votes, it's not a comfortable scenario.
At a time when the two major coalition parties are daggers drawn the only common worry for the PDP as well as Congress is perhaps the edgy security situation despite claims of having substantially taken away the initiative from the militants. "But one odd untoward incident takes everything back to square one," echoes a senior police officer in central Kashmir. This is perhaps an indication of a whole population having reached a perpetual threshold which doesn't need more than a single violent incident to erupt into a collective upsurge. The challenge for the political players is to manage this threshold. "It'll take some form of a political instrument to achieve any degree of management of this suspended upper limit," says a Kashmir expert.
The whole zero sum coalition rhetoric actually seems aimed at resetting the next election agenda. In the process of shedding each other's baggage, coalition partners will take some time to realise the limited nature of the operating space in Kashmir's political theatre. But none of these parties so far has displayed any capability to get the state a new political injection or articulate one that resonates with the voting population.
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