Mehbooba Mufti is a winner of sorts even after losing the government following the withdrawal of support by the BJP to her government as her party had too many achievements to count during her two-year tenure as Chief Minister.

It is for this reason that she did not pull out of the coalition government even when she knew that the BJP could pull the rug from under her feet any time in view of the 2019 elections and the embarrassment it was facing nationally by conceding to the PDP’s agenda while its own was getting stonewalled. Their common minimum programme fancifully christened as the Agenda of Alliance was working in favour of the PDP only, and if the BJP has any grudges now, it is all because of the incompetence of BJP ministers and their diligence in matters others than governance.

Mehbooba knew it was coming (BJP pulling out of the government) and that it could happen any time. This she had shared with some of her confidants, but the fact remains that when she was informed about the decision officially in her office in the secretariat, it shook her.

Her achievements are being counted, beginning with the amnesty to stone throwers to the Ramzan ceasefire. She proved too clever for the BJP stalwarts. They caused the fall of her government, but she achieved on many counts – nurtured her Kashmiri Muslim constituency and made some successful attempts to get Gujjars and Bakerwals to her party’s side.

Mehbooba Mufti had asked for Ramzan ceasefire on May 10 and the Centre announced it on May 16, the eve of the beginning of the holy Muslim month of fasting and prayers. “Could anyone have imagined that the Narendra Modi government would announce a unilateral ceasefire,” her party asks with a sense of elation.

Later, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the Ramzan ceasefire during his visit to Srinagar on May 19. It was seen as Mehbooba climbing yet another step on the ladder to success.

Her most astonishing achievement, according to sources in the PDP, was that she had insisted on talks with the Hurriyat and Pakistan, and that offer was made by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on May 26 when the BJP was celebrating its four years in office.

The amnesty to 10,000-12,000 stone throwers was on Mehbooba’s agenda since 2016 and she succeeded in getting that done.

Her pressure with an unmistakable warning against tampering with Articles 35A and 370, which confer special rights and privileges to citizens of the state and grant special status to J&K within the Indian Union, respectively, worked.

The BJP may say anything, but the fact is that there is documented word in the Agenda of Alliance that specifies that the saffron party had agreed to maintain status quo on the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.