When Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti will hold first party meeting in Srinagar on Sunday, one issue that will be weighing heavy on the minds is the poor attendance of people during the funeral of PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who died on January 7.
Only around 5,000 people, including officials and party leaders, gathered in Srinagar’s Sheri-e-Kashmir cricket stadium for the funeral.
At the same venue, the PDP succeeded to gather more than 12,000 supporters on November 7 for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Srinagar rally.
The party reluctantly admits to the dip in the popularity graph in Jammu and Kashmir after the PDP joined hands with the BJP, whose march it promised to stop in J&K during the election rallies.
Admitting to unexpected turn out for the Sayeed’s funeral, PDP legislator and senior leader Nayeem Akhtar said, “Mr. Sayeed always practiced unpopular politics in Jammu and Kashmir. His politics was aimed at course correction for the mainstream wherever it went awry. He stood against [former Chief Minister] the popular and powerful leader Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah for a genuine democratic process to flourish in the State.”
However, other PDP leaders see the poor participation in the Chief Minister’s funeral in Srinagar as “a challenge posed by the polity of Jammu and Kashmir”. In fact, the capital Srinagar behaved indifferent to the death of the Chief Minister with normal life remaining unaffected.
The funeral of Sayeed is a pointer to the larger political problem of the State where political parties continue to lose sway to separatists.
