After her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passed away on Thursday morning, Mehbooba Sayeed is the obvious choice to succeed him as the chief minister of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Mehbooba Mufti has big shoes to fill, since her father had been a prolific politician and an astute statesman. Although Jammu and Kashmir has always seen conflicts, it is going to be an especially tough ride for Sayeed as she takes oath as the first woman chief minister of the state.She is still one of the most recognized politicians in Jammu and Kashmir and is known for commitment and dedication. She is the only woman politician from Kashmir, who is known across the country. Here are some things you should know about Mehbooba. She was born on May 22, 1959 in Akhran Nowpara in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district. She studied Literature at Government School of Women in Jammu and Kashmir. She went on to earn a Law degree, like her father, from the University of Kashmir.
When the Assembly elections were announced for the first time in the valley in 1996, Mehbooba’s father Mufti Sayeed was a member of the Indian National Congress. However, no one was ready to contest under the banner of a national party. Sayeed convinced his wife Gulshan Ara and daughter Mehbooba to contest from Pahalgam and Bijbehara respectively. While Gulshan lost, Mehbooba won the seat in the Assembly at the time when National Conference’s Sheikh Abdullah became the chief minister.Mehbooba soon became very popular and was made the leader of the opposition in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. In 1999, when her father left the Congress to form the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party, she also quit from the Assembly and became the party vice president. The party rise on the valley’s political scene has been credited largely to the dedication and commitment of Mehbooba. She built her father’s party from scratch and challenged the dominant Abdullahs. She managed to do all this when the state was reeling under the insurgency and separatist movement.
She may have a calm and soft spoken demeanour, but she knows how to get her way around things. She played a very important role during the peak of militancy in Kashmir, when Indian Army was being accused of violating human rights in the state. She had knack of striking a chord with both the militants and the Army. She was often seen grieving with the dead militants’ families. She made a personal connection with the people and a place in their hearts.
Mehbooba had an early marriage and has two daughters from the marriage- Iltija and Irtiqa. However, she divorced her husband, who went on to pursue an independent political career. Her daughters are both doing well for themselves. While Iltija is in London and works at the Indian High, Irtiqa studied screen writing from New York and is working as a screen writer, like Mehbooba’s youngest brother and the late Mufti Sayeed’s only son, Tussadaq.The PDP wave in 2015 was also largely credited to Mehbooba. She raised the issues of rampant corruption and unemployment in the state, for the election. All these issues raised by her, gained her the support that made the party win the largest seats in the Assembly. She very astutely forged an alliance with the BJP, by invoking Atal Bihari Vajpayee and managed to secure the chief ministerial post for her father.Meanwhile almost all the PDP leaders including Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, Rafi Mir, Nayeem Akhtar and others unanimously opined that Mehbooba Mufti should take charge of (CNS)