Ever since Mehbooba Mufti was sworn in as Jammu Kashmir Chief Minister in April 2016 , the PDP-BJP alliance stitched together in March 2015 has lurched from crisis to crisis, and the final break on Tuesday came without much surprise, given the harsh words the two parties have exchanged in the past two years.
Here is a list of all the near ‘breaking points’ the alliance has had.
Re-alignment troubles
After the death of Mehbooba Mufti’s father and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in January 2016, it seemed the PDP and BJP would not form another alliance with Ms. Mufti at the helm. After one meeting of her legislators, she went as far as to say that the alliance was “unpopular” with the people, given that the PDP’s strongest constituency — in South Kashmir — was the most opposed to the BJP. Eventually, the alliance was formed after a meeting between Ms. Mufti and BJP President Amit Shah that sealed the deal and she was sworn in as Chief Minister in April 2016, after more than three months of Governor’s rule.
Burhan Wani’s killing
The BJP and the PDP came to blows over the handling of JKLF militant and declared terrorist Burhan Wani’s killing in July , just months after she took over, an encounter now seen as responsible for unleashing the new phase in terrorism in the State . While the Centre held that the Wani killing was a big success, Ms. Mufti told her party cadres called his group “children”, and said that she would have preferred to give Wani “another chance”, leading to protests from the BJP in Jammu.
Confrontation v/ Appeasement on violence
In the violence that followed the Wani killing, the PDP and the BJP were often at loggerheads. The PDP leaders accused central forces of excessive violence, and a politics of confrontation in the Valley. On the other hand, the BJP and its constituency, particularly in Jammu, accused the PDP of a too-soft approach to and appeasement of separatists.
In April last year, the PDP disapproved of the BJP’s stand commending Major Leetul Gogoi for tying a Kashmiri civilian to his jeep as a human shield to escape stone-pelters during by-elections. In the case of the Shopian civilian killings in January this year, Ms. Mufti ordered an enquiry and an FIR was lodged against members of the 10 Garhwal Rifles, which the BJP opposed. On civilian killings and pellet injuries of stone pelters and civilians, there were several run-ins between the State and the Centre as well, with interlocutors former State Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu and BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav having to travel between Delhi and Srinagar/Jammu in order to ease out each crisis. Once CM Mufti sacked Mr. Drabu in March 2018 , divergences became more difficult to resolve, and the BJP publicly called the decision a “setback to the alliance”.
State-Centre issues
Surprisingly, while J&K was able to clear the GST taxes proposed by the government easily, the Centre and State wrangled over other issues pertaining to Article 370 and the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. The issues were brushed under the carpet after the BJP agreed to put the abolition of Article 370 on the back burner , and the Supreme Court made it clear that Article 35a (that allows the state to decide property rights for “permanent citizens”) would stay. They will likely make a reappearance now that the alliance has been dissolved
Kathua rape and murder
In January 2018, the brutal gangrape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua , tore Jammu and Kashmir apart with stone-pelting protesters in the Kashmir Valley demanding speedy justice for her killing, while in Jammu, BJP members including two ministers Chaudhary Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga took to the streets demanding the case be handed to the CBI for investigation. Eventually, after the Supreme Court rejected the demand for the CBI enquiry and transferred the case to Pathankot court, the BJP had to back down , and allowed Mehbooba Mufti to sack the two ministers . Her cabinet was reshuffled only on May 1 this year, but in the few weeks that elapsed since, her new Deputy CM Kavindra Gupta and CM Mufti were often on opposite sides of every debate , particularly as the government called suspension of operations by Central forces. Eventually, the first alert about the alliance breaking down came from Mr. Gupta, who announced on Sunday that BJP MLAs had been called to Delhi for an important decision.
Suspension of Operations
It was clear from the very beginning of the government’s announcement of the Non-Initiation of Counter-Insurgency Operations (NICO) or the cease-ops announced on the eve of the month of Ramzan in mid-May, that many were not on board. Days after Ms. Mufti spoke of the need for a ceasefire leading up to Eid and perhaps extended to the Amarnath Yatra this year, BJP leader Ram Madhav publicly countered her asking Ms. Mufti to tell “jihadis to announce a ceasefire first”.
The Army, which was also unhappy with the decision, felt it would give militant groups a chance to regroup. In a television interview, the Srinagar-based 15 Corps Commander said that extending the ceasefire would make it “difficult” for the troops, a statement that indicated some backing in New Delhi. The decision to declare the initiative a failure after the death of journalist Shujaat Bukhari and of announcing the end of the cease-ops on Sunday by the Centre, in a sense, paved the way for the end of the BJP-PDP alliance in the State as well.
