Setting aside their differences, parties of various hues today got together in the Assembly to pay rich tributes to former Chief Minister Mohammad Sayeed, with opposition National Conference saying the greatest tribute to the late PDP leader would be the resolution of Kashmir issue.
The House, where Mufti's daughter and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was conspicuous by her absence, also paid tributes to former state Governor Gen (retd) K V Krishna Rao, former Speakers of Lok Sabha, Balram Jhakar and P A Sangma, three ex-ministers and two former members of the House. Opposition NC leader Omar Abdullah was also not present.
Mufti, who headed PDP-BJP government for 10 months, passed away on January 7.
Speaker Kavinder Gupta introduced the obituary references for the nine leaders, who had died between the last session of the assembly in October last year and beginning of the ongoing budget session yesterday.
Mohammad Shafi Uri of National Conference (NC), the first to speak, said Mufti had a glittering political career.
He chose the occasion to highlight the need for finding a solution to the Kashmir problem.
Uri, a former minister and ex-MP, said forming a regional party PDP by Mufti was a message to the "Delhi establishment that Jammu and Kashmir has a special status and special identity". Mufti had left Congress to float PDP in 1999.
The NC leader said the greatest tribute to Mufti would be when all the members of the Assembly sit together and find a solution to the Kashmir issue. "Only then peace and reconciliation is possible," he added.
He referred to the decision of the PDP founder to form an alliance with the BJP in the state following the fractured mandate in 2014 Assembly elections.
Despite Mufti terming the alliance as "coming together of North Pole and South Pole", the yearning for peace and reconciliation and resolution of Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan continued, Uri said. He said the pursuit of peace was the policy of National Conference as well.
Uri said the people of not only the state but entire sub-continent were watching the Assembly as to what role "we are playing to keep the state united and, not only maintain but, strengthen Article 370 of the Constitution".
Taking a dig at the BJP, the NC veteran said the global political scenario has changed and the buzzword now is development.
"Ek vidhan Ek Nishan (One constitution, one flag) is being raised no more," he said referring to BJP's old slogan with regard to Jammu and Kashmir which has a separate flag.
"We were told (by BJP) earlier about Babar (Mughal invader), now they go to Iran with Persian translation of Mirza Ghalib's poetry," he said in an apparent swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his recent visit to the Islamic Republic.
Congress leader G M Saroori used the occasion to highlight
"delay" in release of aid to the flood victims by the Centre. "Mufti sahab died while looking for the file of flood relief," he said.
Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami of CPI(M) said the most important contribution of Mufti was to promote dissent in politics.
"In presence of the towering personality of (NC's) Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, he dared to do politics of a different point of view," Tarigami recalled.
Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Nirmal Singh said coming together of the BJP and PDP to form a coalition government in the state showed that if there is sincerity towards serving the people, ways will emerge for it.
Sat Sharma of the BJP said Mufti was one politician who did principled politics.
Controversial Independent MLA Sheikh Abdul Rashid said Mufti was an "Indian by conviction".
"Being an Indian (in Kashmir) is not crime. When whole of Kashmir was up in revolt (in 1989), he (Mufti) became the Home Minister of the country. He changed parties (Congress to Janata Dal to Congress and then formed PDP) but whatever he did was in the interest of India," Rashid said.
He also raked up Mehbooba's absence from the House on the occasion.
"Mehbooba Mufti is the Chief Minister of the entire state but today she should have cancelled all her engagements and been present here as we pay tributes to Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Anyways, it is her personal matter also," he said.
Responding to this, Roads and Buildings Minister Abdul Rehman Veeri said Mehbooba did not take part in the obituary reference as it is "not possible for her being a daughter".
Veeri, who was overcome by emotions, said "It is difficult for me, being a political worker of Mufti sahib, to be here."
A two-minute silence was observed as a mark of respect for Mufti and others mentioned in the obituary reference.
(Reopen DES20)
The Legislative Council also paid tributes to Mufti, Rao and 7 others, with Chairman Haji Inayat Ali introducing the obituary references.
Opposition NC leader Sajad Kichloo said Mufti "rose above party politics while talking to us (opposition members). There are only a few leaders like him in the state and the void left by him is hard to fill."
BJP MLC Ramesh Arora said Mufti always wanted to bring the three regions Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh closer to each other.
Mufti proved his capacity and political commitment by creating a regional party and then taking it to power in a short time. "No other party in any state had done so," he said.
Many others, cutting across the party lines, paid tributes to the former Chief Minister as well as the other leaders.
Describing Mufti as visionary, Education Minister Naeem Akhtar said the biggest homage to him would be to bring the people of the state closer to each other.
"He (Mufti) was one of the greatest connecters. His vision was opposite to what politicians of today have," Akhtar said, adding Mufti had introduced the real democracy in the state and made it competitive as well.
"It is his biggest inheritance that he introduced real democracy here and made it competitive by giving an alternative to the people. He changed the discourse here. Trying to establish peace between India and Pakistan is his lasting contribution," he said.
The House also observed a two-minute silence as a mark of respect for the former chief minister and others mentioned in the obituary reference.
