Jammu, India: Mehbooba Mufti was sworn in on Monday as Jammu and Kashmir’s first woman leader, taking over from her father nearly three months after he died in office.
India’s only Muslim-majority state had been ruled directly from New Delhi since the death in January of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who formed an uneasy alliance with the nationally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after a 2015 election.
His daughter, who heads the moderate People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that he founded in 1999, had initially appeared reluctant to continue the unpopular coalition with the Hindu nationalist BJP.
The PDP’s main support base is among Muslims in the Kashmir Valley, the epicentre of a separatist insurgency that broke out in 1989, although the party stops short of calling for independence for the Himalayan region.
“Her key task will be to recoup the PDP’s credibility among her constituents [Kashmiri Muslims], which is at an all time low, and manage support from Delhi vis-a-vis economic assistance,” political historian Siddiq Wahid said.
Mehbooba Mufti reached an agreement at a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, although the terms of their deal have not been disclosed.
Her swearing-in takes the number of female chief ministers in India to five, although she is the first woman to serve in the post in the deeply conservative state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Modi did not attend the swearing-in ceremony in the state’s winter capital, Jammu, but tweeted his congratulations.
As Mehbooba Mufti government took charge, the Centre on Monday said Jammu and Kashmir has to be taken forward on the lines of development being pursued at the national level and promised to always stand behind the state.
Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu, who was here to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Mehbooba and her council of ministers, advised the new Chief Minister to follow agenda of her father and predecessor Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to develop the state by taking care of people of all regions and bring peace and prosperity.
— with inputs from PTI
