With Mufti as CM, BJP finally rules Jammu & Kashmir

·        25-member Council of Ministers sworn in but little jubilation in the State

 

·        NC, Congress boycott coronation; Advani, Joshi, Amit Shah attend

 

By Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

March 1, 2015

Jammu--- Ending 49-day-long Governor’s Rule, Peoples Democratic Party’s 79-year-old founder-patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was on Sunday installed as Chief Minister for his second term and head of the ideologically incompatible PDP-BJP coalition government in the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir State. Mufti, alongwith his entire Council of Ministers---comprising 16 Cabinet Ministers and 8 Ministers of State---was sworn in by Governor Narendra Nath Vohra at General Zorawar Auditorium of the University of Jammu.

Trading hugs and pleasantries with each other, leaders of the two political parties took oath of office and secrecy and pledge of upholding the sovereignty and integrity of India in a sombre ambience as if either of them was becoming slave of compulsion and compromising what the two had promised conversely in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir region and the Hindu-dominated Jammu province.

Inside, the usual smiles and laughter were absent. Outside, there was little evidence of festivity and jubilation that usually marks such occasions.

Notwithstanding a few firecrackers in certain areas---total of three at PDP’s Jammu headquarters---there were few celebrations in some segments in Jammu. Reports from the Valley mentioned of a few firecrackers in Handwara, the area which returned separatist-turned-mainstream politician Sajjad Gani Lone who took oath as a Cabinet Minister and pledged to protect India’s sovereignty and integrity. In at least one village in Handwar, PC’s and NC’s workers clashes. Officials said four persons were injured.

In addition to a few firecrackers at Barzalla and Chhanpora in Srinagar, reports said that PDP’s supporters celebrated the government formation in Kupwara and Lolab segments in northern Kashmir.

Leaders of the coalition pleaded that rain played a spoilsport.

COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

The PDP legislators inducted as Ministers of Cabinet include Abdul Rehman Bhat Veeri, Javed Mustafa Mir, Abdul Haq Khan, Syed Basharat Bukhari, Choudhary Zulfikar Ali, Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura, MLC Naeem Akhtar, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari besides the first time MLAs Haseeb Drabu and Imran Raza Ansari. BJP’s Cabinet Ministers include Prof Nirmal Singh, who was later designated as “Deputy Chief Minister”, Chander Prakash, Choudhary Lal Singh, Bali Bhagat and Sukhnandan Kumar. BJP’s associate member and Chairman of Peoples Conference, Sajjad Gani Lone, was also inducted as a Cabinet Minister.

In the lower rung of the Council, eight leaders of the two parties were sworn in as Ministers of State. They include PDP’s Abdul Majid Paddar, Mohammad Ashraf Mir and Asea Naqash besides BJP’s newly elected MLC from Leh Chering Dorje, BJP’s only Muslim MLA Abdul Gani Kohli, MLA Sunil Kumar Sharma, BJP’s rebel Pawan Gupta, who defeated the party’s official candidate in Udhampur but later sided with the same fold, and a woman activist Priya Seth who was later today nominated as MLA.

With this composition, PDP got the lion’s share of 10 Cabinet Ministers and three Ministers of State besides the topmost position of Chief Minister. Its coalition partner BJP got just 5 Cabinet berths besides one for associate PC. It also got 4 junior Ministerial berths besides one for its associate Pawan Gupta.

“Yes, we have got less number of Ministers and perhaps inferior portfolios and PDP is far better placed. But, we are the real achievers as far as our political agenda and the issues are concerned. There’s no compromise on that. Isn’t it historic that BJP is for the first time ruling J&K directly?”, said a senior BJP leader, wishing to be anonymous.

While most of the BJP Ministers took oath in Hindi---only Lal Singh preferred his mother tongue Dogri----in the name of ‘Eshwar’ (god), PDP’s Muslim Ministers did it in Urdu and English in the name of ‘Khuda’. However, Javed Mir, Sajjad Lone, Altaf Bukhari and Imran Ansari took oath in the name of ‘Allah’, the pure Islamic nomenclature for Almighty. Lal Singh ended his oath with ‘Jai Hind’ and Sunil Sharma with ‘Jai Bharat’. An elated Bali Bhagat shouted the slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. Mufti Sayeed, Nirmal Singh, Lal Singh, Sajjad Lone, Ghulam Nabi Lone and Imran Ansari embraced Prime Minister Modi even as all others, except the two women, embraced Mufti and Nirmal Singh.

RSS background

Almost all the BJP’s Ministers, with a couple of exceptions, are from the hardcore right wing RSS background. Sunil Sharma, who rose to prominence with the communal riots of August 2013 in Kishtwar, has also worked as a counterinsurgent with Army, according to media reports.

NC, Congress absent

Even as the J&K Pradesh Congress Committee chief Saifuddin Soz attended the ceremony, in a significant development none of the National Conference or Congress MLAs, MLCs or senior leaders turned up at the venue. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad as well as NC’s acting president and MLA Omar Abdullah---both former Chief Ministers---chose to stay away from Mufti’s oath-taking. Omar arrived in Jammu in the forenoon and spent the day with his party legislators and leaders, devising strategy for Monday’s Legislative Council elections.

Two women nominated as MLAs

On Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed’s recommendation, Governor Vohra nominated PDP’s Anjum Fazili and BJP’s Priya Sethi as MLAs. On Monday, they would both cast their vote for the coalition candidates, raising the number of PDP-BJP alliance and associate members to 59 in the 89-member Assembly. The NC-Congress alliance candidate Sajjad Kichloo is sure to win on one of the four seats in Jammu while as NC’s Qaisar Jamsheed Lone (with 30 votes of the opposition alliance) and PDP’s Saifuddin Bhat could bag one seat each in Kashmir. However, both the seats in Kashmir could go to PDP in case two independent MLAs, namely Engineer Rashid and Hakeem Yasin, abstain or vote for the ruling coalition candidate which appears to be unlikely for the moment.

‘Agenda for Alliance’ released

After the 60-minute oath-taking event, Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed and Deputy CM Nirmal Singh, alongwith Haseeb Drabu, addressed a joint press conference. The coalition’s ‘common minimum programme’ titled ‘Agenda for Alliance’ was released at the crowded news conference.

END