As a pertinent example , relevant also to the ambassadors he addressed in Delhi , Drabu says that he quoted the case of various countries issuing travel advisories that “ are effectively acting as a social boycott of Kashmiris ”. This , “ in turn , engenders a political thinking that is isolationist ”, he bemoans . “ Civil society institutions need to intervene in their areas of influence to resolve our social issues .”
But then , on March 11 , when Drabu was still camping in Delhi , the PDP asserted “ resolution of the political problem of J & K ” as its core agenda . The party ’ s powerful vice-president , Sartaj Madni , also the CM ’ s uncle , asked Drabu to withdraw the Delhi statement . By evening , a letter from the PDP ’ s disciplinary committee sought his explanation on the speech that “ has caused a serious dent ” to the party ’ s image . “ The next day morning , I contacted the CM residence in Delhi and was told that she was busy and would ring me back in 10 minutes . That call never came . By early afternoon , I called up again and sought an appointment . As I was waiting for it , I learned from the Greater Kashmir ( newspaper ) website that the CM has decided to drop me from the council of ministers and had written to the governor to this effect . I finally got a call to meet the CM at 7.15 pm .”
For Drabu , the decision to drop him came as a “ surprise ” but what was “ shocking ” was the manner of communication : to inform the media before talking to him . “ I was not accorded an opportunity to explain the context and the content of my speech . That was painful ,” he says . As for the PDP ’ s political ideology , he emphasises the “ involvement and guidance ” of late Sayeed in finalising the AoA that comprised the aspirational agenda along with the all-important Self Rule document .
CM Mehbooba Mufti ( in pic ) has of late been arguing for Indo-Pak talks , when Drabu stated Kashmir was never a political issue .
ACCORDING to sources , Drabu ’ s stature was growing in the government — to the extent of posing a major challenge to the CM , who is two years his elder . “ Mehbooba was looking for a chance to counter the development ,” says a PDP functionary . “ She found it now .” Drabu ’ s close aides say the PDP wanted a fall guy to reclaim its ground and he became a convenient choice . Also , the CM , having slipped into strained relations with the coalition partner , was seeking to build a post-alliance narrative for herself and the PDP by sacking Drabu .
Kashmir ’ s separatist forces have no sympathy for Drabu , who had , in May 2014 , hit out at their call for a poll boycott by terming it “ electoral authoritarianism ” in a newspaper . Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front ( JKLF ) chairman Yasin Malik often calls him a “ hypocrite ”, whose articles had earlier “ invoked thousands of young and old to join freedom struggle and sacrifice their lives for it .” The pro-independence leader also claims that Drabu had in 1996 visited the All Parties Hurri yat Conference ’ s Delhi office and “ praised our efforts for the liberation of Kashmir from the illegal occupation ”. These allegations have found no response from Drabu , who , on the other extreme , is called by some PDP leaders as the “ RSS man ” in their party .
So , who among the two is Drabu ? “ None ,” says one his close
friends . “ He was never a JKLF supporter and can never be an RSS man . When you are articulate , intelligent and have ideas and are in power , you have more enemies . As no one could challenge his versatility and articulacy of thoughts , they come up with all sort of allegations .”
As someone who began his career as an Officer on Special Duty in the Planning Commission in 1990 , Drabu had worked with the then PM ’ s Economic Advisory Council and was also part of the Tenth Finance Commission . He worked closely with Y . V . Reddy and Bimal Jalan , both of whom went on to head the RBI . Drabu later joined a leading business newspaper as its national editor . After that stint , back in Srinagar , Sayeed was forced to quit as CM in 2005 and the Congress ’ s Ghulam Nabi Azad substituted him . That time , Drabu took over as chairman of J & K Bank . By then , the NC had started finding him “ arrogant ”. That party came to power in early 2009 .
Barely 20 months later , in August 2010 , the state faced unrest after a series of killings of youth by the paramilitary CRPF . At this , the Omar Abdullah government replaced Drabu .
No official reason came for the removal . But it is widely believed that Drabu ’ s direction to let ATMs remain open amid the six months of turmoil led to it . Drabu went into hibernation and later joined Essar Group of Companies — only to again become close to Sayeed and join his party in 2014 . The economist got elected from Rajpura constituency . Then , much to the heartburn of many party colleagues , he rose further : Sayeed made Drabu the PDP ’ s points-person for a dialogue on alliance with the BJP .
The resultant AoA , despite the shortcomings from the PDP point of view , won the BJP ’ s assurance to put the controversial Article 370 in a ‘ deep freeze ’ for six years . Both parties agreed to follow former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ’ s liberal “ Insaaniyat , Kashmiriyat aur Jamhooriyat ” approach toward Kashmir , while stating that the government would facilitate and help initiate a sustained and meaningful dialogue with the “ internal stakeholders ”. That would include all J & K political groups irrespective of their ideological views and predilections . Drabu had , all the same , succeeded in pushing the PDP ’ s poll promises : the AoA talked about confidence-building measures such as enhancing people-to-people contact on both sides of the LoC , encourage civil society exchanges , take cross-LoC travel , commerce , trade and business to the next level and open new routes across all three regions to enhance connectivity .
However , none of the promises has been translated into action in the past three years , much to the frustration of the PDP . The Centre keeps rebuffing Mehbooba ’ s repeated calls for India- Pakistan dialogue . ( It was the case even in 2015 , when PM Narendra Modi snubbed CM Sayeed at a public Srinagar speech where the latter had called for cross-border talks .)
Today , Mehbooba ’ s dismissal of Drabu smacks of a tactic her father had employed in a similar situation 12 years ago . Sayeed , as the PDP boss , had , in 2006 , recalled his deputy Muzaffar Hussain Baig ( also finance minister ), who was seen becoming close to the then CM Azad . It ’ s all there in the cycle . O
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