30 yrs after Mehbooba did so, daughter picks up baton, takes the lead in her toughest battle

“Twenty five years ago, I trusted you with the most precious thing in my life, my mother,” says Iltija Mufti, to thunderous applause at Koot, a remote village in Verinag. “Mehbooba ji joined politics when I was a kid, I couldn’t even tie my shoelaces. She told us, ‘I am the leader of my people first, then your mother’. Today, I have come to ask for a precious thing of yours – your vote.”

From the corners of Anantnag to villages in Jammu’s Poonch and Rajouri districts, Iltija, 35, repeats her appeal, digging out past anecdotes to connect with the people.

It is a throwback to almost three decades ago, when Mehbooba, then 37, took the lead to canvass for her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in the wake of his resignation from the Congress to form the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Iltija emerged in the spotlight when she took up the handling of Mehbooba’s social media accounts during the long period that the former chief minister was under detention following the abrogation of Article 370. This more public role for Iltija comes when Mehbooba, also the PDP chief, is facing one of her toughest political battles.

Contesting from Anantnag-Rajouri, Mehbooba is facing the National Conference’s Mian Altaf and the Apni Party’s Zafar Iqbal Manhas. While Anantnag used to be a PDP turf, it now has large parts of Jammu’s Poonch and Rajouri districts after delimitation, and a new name.

With the BJP wooing both the Paharis and Gujjars with successive measures; with the PDP alliance with the NC falling through and the latter fielding a revered Gujjar leader against Mehbooba; and with the BJP offering tacit support to Manhas, a Pahari from Kashmir region, all bets are out on how the May 25 polling will go.

Iltija says she could not but step in.