New Delhi: “In my twenty six years year old career as a politician, I thought I had seen it all. But like they say never! [sic].” This tweet by the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, perhaps, aptly describes the political drama that saw the Jammu and Kashmir state Assembly being dissolved by the Governor, Satya Pal Malik, after two different coalitions staked claim to form the government, one after the other.
One may think that this development may have taken place over a long period of negotiations, political mud-slinging and everything else that happens when the stakes to form a government are higher. Well, it all unfolded within a span of 15 minutes. And the unlikely political drama took place on the unlikeliest of platforms: Twitter.
This all started when Mehbooba Mufti staked claim to form the government in the state with support from the National Conference and the Congress, making the social media go into an absolute tizzy.
After having failed to fax letter claiming numbers for the government formation in Jammu and Kashmir to Raj Bhavan, Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti took to Twitter to post the letter and hoped the Governor would be able to see it. Mufti also wrote in her tweet that the “letter has been sent by post as well.”
Mufti in her letter to the governor wrote that the PDP is the largest party in the state Assembly having the strength of 29 and the National Conference’s 15 and Congress’ 12 members will take the coalition’s collective strength to 56, much higher than the majority mark of 44. In her letter, Mehbooba Mufti also said that she will be meeting the Governor shortly to stake claim to form government in the state.
Well, that didn’t go as planned.
While the news had just started to pick up over this late night development, the political drama intensified when Sajad Lone, the People’s Conference chairman, and an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, tweeted a letter he had sent to the Governor in which he claimed that he had the numbers to form the government in the state.
In his letter to the Governor, Sajad Lone, whose party has two lawmakers, including himself, said he has the support of the BJP, which has 26 legislators and more than 18 other rebel lawmakers. "I shall submit the Letter of Support from the BJP legislature Party and other members supporting the government... as and when asked to do so by your Excellency," his letter read.
At this moment, the crisis was hurtling into a crescendo. Or that’s what the anxious people and political commentators — glued to their mobile phones and televisions screens — thought. The biggest surprise of them all was yet to come.
Soon after Mehbooba Mufti and Sajad Lone had sent their respective letters to the Governor staking claim, Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the Assembly, which was in suspended animation.
This was further followed by a tweet by the former chief minister of the state and the chairman of National Conference, Omar Abdullah, who wrote that, “JKNC has been pressing for assembly dissolution for 5 months now. It can’t be a coincidence that within minutes of Mehbooba Mufti Sahiba letter staking claim the order to dissolve the assembly suddenly appears.”
Adding to that sly dig at the Governor, Omar also had a request for the Raj Bhavan. “J&K Raj Bhavan needs a new fax machine urgently.”
While all this happened within a very short period of time, the social media in Kashmir also saw its fair share of Twitter jokes. But the biggest of them all, and perhaps, the one that also carries a political statement with it, came from Mehbooba Mufti herself. “PS - In todays age of technology, it is very strange that the fax machine at HE Governor’s residence didn’t receive our fax but swiftly issued one regarding the assembly dissolution,” Mehbooba tweeted.
Who would have thought a fax machine would end up being an integral part of the thriller of a political match that unfolded on Twitter. And mind you, the drama hasn't ended yet.
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