WHY THE COALITION ENDED
Four factors forced the BJP to pull the plug on its 40-month-long ruling alliance with the PDP
This alliance was never for power. We had always said muscular security policy will not work in J&K, reconciliation is the key. MEHBOOBA MUFTI, PDP chief and J&K CM
SLIDE IN SECURITY
An uptick in militant violence, marked by targeted killings and unrelenting stone-pelting and mob attacks on security forces, had pushed the Kashmir valley to an abyss. A surge in recruitments of locals into militant ranks emerged as a dangerous portent.
CEASEFIRE FIASCO
A unilateral suspension of security operations during the month of Ramzan – a part of the Centre’s gambit to create space for political dialogue – came unstuck due to unremitting militant violence. The murders of senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari and a Kashmiri soldier on the eve of Eid proved to be the last straw.
ANGER AND ALIENATION
As the PDP rapidly lost political space in Kashmir, it diminished the Mehbooba government’s writ on the ground. The Centre’s move on amnesty to stone-pelters failed to stem the groundswell of ire, fuelling support for militants and separatists.
COLLIDING PARTNERS
With the alliance of extremes pulling apart in different directions and pandering to their communal constituencies in Kashmir and Jammu, their untenable pact had stoked the communal chasm between the two regions to a new level.