With her 'Kath Baath', Mehbooba Mufti eyes PDP revival in Jammu and Kashmir

Stuck in the political wilderness ever since her alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unwittingly paved the way for the abrogation of Article 370, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti is hoping that an image makeover for her Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from an outfit that lectures to one that listens to the angst of ordinary residents of the Union Territory (UT), particularly the youth, would resurrect the party’s fortunes.

The PDP chief recently launched an outreach initiative, ‘Kath Baath’ (let’s talk), through which she hopes to travel across the UT to meet and “listen” to people’s problems, instead of just telling them about her party’s agenda and promises.

PDP considers outreach key after Delhi blasts

PDP insiders say the outreach is particularly significant as it comes at a time when Kashmiris are being vilified, yet again, in the wake of the November 11 car blast near Delhi’s Red Fort that claimed at least a dozen lives.

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The prime suspects arrested in the plot and the so-called ‘white-collar terror module’ that was busted in Haryana’s Faridabad days ahead of the Red Fort blast are all from Kashmir, as was the driver of the explosive-laden car.

The case had reignited concerns over Kashmiris, including those residing in different parts of the country, being unfairly suspected of involvement in terror activities or as terrorist sympathisers. Within J&K, the case had brought back the familiar exercise of investigative agencies randomly raiding people’s homes and picking up locals for questioning over suspected terror links.

'Kath Baath' comes after PDP's Budgam bypoll win

Politically, the launch of ‘Kath Baath’ also comes close on the heels of the PDP winning the crucial bypoll at the Budgam Assembly constituency in November, which Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had vacated in November 2024 after having simultaneously won the state polls from his family turf of Ganderbal.

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The PDP’s win from Budgam was seen as a definitive sign of the fast-eroding popularity of Abdullah as the constituency had elected a National Conference (NC) MLA over the years, with exceptions such as 1972 when the Congress had bagged the seat.

On their part, PDP insiders told The Federal that Mufti’s initiative was born more out of introspection than from external factors as she felt that her party had been failing to meet the expectations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, who were desperately looking for an outfit that would hear their concerns as both the reigning political leadership under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and Abdullah in Srinagar remained apathetic towards them.

This frustration among the ordinary Kashmiris, the PDP feels, had been simmering since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 and is now approaching a boiling point in the wake of crackdowns that began after the Pahalgam terror attack in April and have intensified since the Red Fort blast case.

'There is numbness'

“Young people in Kashmir have been agitated since August 5, 2019 (when Article 370 was abrogated), but they are not venting their frustration. It is problematic. There is numbness; people are not reacting to anything,” a PDP leader considered close to Mufti told The Federal, adding their party is ready to face the ire of the public and “won’t feel offended” by it if doing so helps ease this simmering discontent.

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A PDP MLA, requesting anonymity, echoed the same view, saying the “eerie silence of Kashmiris is very disturbing”.

“There is no civil society in Kashmir post 2019. You don’t know the degree of alienation and frustration the people have in them. There is no communication. New Delhi is also not willing to talk. There is a vacuum,” the MLA said.

The party also sees the mandate given to it in the Budgam bypoll as a manifestation of the public’s anger against Abdullah’s unfulfilled promises. In the first elections held in J&K last year following the abrogation of Article 370, the NC had romped to power on the plank of fighting Delhi for the rights of J&K, including restoration of its statehood, while a completely decimated PDP was reduced to just three seats in the J&K Assembly.

Even Mufti’s daughter, Iltija Mufti, who had made her electoral debut from the family turf of Srigufwara–Bijbehara, had failed at the hustings, losing the election to the NC’s Bashir Veeri by nearly 10,000 votes.

Winning NC bastion seen as major boost

For the PDP, winning the NC bastion of Budgam a year into Abdullah’s stint in power is, thus, being seen by Mufti and her lieutenants as green shoots of electoral revival for their party. “Kashmiris wanted Omar to be the saviour who would resist the BJP-led Centre government’s continuous onslaught directed at them, but he has surrendered meekly,” a senior PDP leader said.

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Sources in the PDP say Mufti’s ‘Kath Baath’ sessions are meant to understand the people and address the alienation they feel. The party is also mindful that its initiative should not be confined to the Muslim-majority Valley alone and be rolled out with equal zeal in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region too.

“We need to know it to understand what remedy can be provided before the situation goes wayward,” said another PDP leader, explaining that the party would prefer to work towards solutions provided by the citizens, instead of imposing its own views on them.

Old Mehbooba is back?

Some in the Valley believe the initiative marks Mufti’s return to the style of politics that had first made her popular in Kashmir; so much so that many still argue that though her father, the late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, was a towering national figure, his acceptance in the Valley was “only because of Mehbooba Mufti”.

An old Congress loyalist from Bijbehara told The Federal that Mufti was going back to her political roots, recalling how in the 1990s she would visit village after village in her white Ambassador car and even reached areas considered ‘no go zones’ for mainstream politicians due to militancy, which was then at its peak in the Valley, only to meet people and listen to their issues.

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“She is wading into the same territory, reaching out to people who feel left out; people who are sufferers of the Centre’s iron-fist policy. She wants to consolidate this base again. It has been her constituency,” said the veteran politician, who has remained loyal to the Congress despite the Muftis turning Bijbehara into their political turf.

The PDP president’s outreach is meant to give a platform for dialogue, also to the more hardline or separatist voices in the Valley, who have found all channels of communication with Delhi shut in recent years.

At the first ‘Kath Baath’ conclave Mufti held on December 7 in Srinagar, in attendance were also families and relatives of not just former militants but also of those currently suspected of being involved in militancy, said sources.

The PDP has been of the view that the families of militants must not be punished for the crimes of their kin, particularly given the historical background of the Valley, where homegrown terror operatives often function without their families having any clue of their activities.

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“Today, houses (of suspected terrorists and militants) are being demolished in Kashmir. A son may have picked up a gun, but which law justifies punishing his entire family for his crime? Such acts only aid alienation,” said a PDP leader from south Kashmir.

Another PDP insider present at the December 7 event told The Federal that many residents who came for the interaction urged Mufti to reach out to other political leaders, cutting across party lines, and civil society groups, and speak about Kashmir’s issues.