The son of a slain politician father. A
daughter, out to become the face of
her father’s vintage political dream.
And a suave son fighting hard to
step out of his father’s shadow. The
verdict in Kashmir is also a story of
the victory of political heirs.
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed always
wanted to be Chief Minister. But it
was his daughter, Mehbooba Mufti,
who made the dream come true for
him. From a door-to-door campaign
to a soft separatist stand, their party,
PDP, became a household name in
Kashmir and with only 16 seats, Mufti
became CM in 2002 for three years. It
was Mehbooba who was behind the
meteoric rise of the People’s
Democratic Party. This election,
Mehbooba won again, for the third
consecutive time. But the victory
was not enough to bring them to
power again.
This time, it was the third
generation Abdullah who made a
mark. When Omar Abdullah joined
politics, there were household jokes
about his accent and his non-
Kashmiri ways. He hardly evoked the
loyalty his grandfather Sheikh
Abdullah did among his people, nor
did he have the flamboyance of his
father Farooq Abdullah. In 2002, his
first election, Omar lost from
Ganderbal, the traditional National
Conference bastion. He was written
off by his opponents and friends as
well.