The peace ambassador of dispute-ridden border state takes final bow at 80

The high-points in the political journey of Sayeed, who would have turned 80 on January 12, was his being catapulted to the chair of free India’s first Muslim Home Minister in 1989 and, years later, becoming the Chief Minister of the restive state for a second time in 2015, heading a coalition with BJP, which had its first brush with power in the only Muslim-majority state. 

Born in Baba Mohalla of Bijbehara in Anantnag district on January 12, 1936, Sayeed had his early education at a local school and graduated from S P College, Srinagar. He went on to obtain a law degree and Master’s degree in Arab History from Aligarh Muslim University. 

Sayeed cut his political teeth early, having joined the Democratic National Conference of G M Sadiq in the late 1950s. In 1962, Sayeed was elected to the state assembly from Bijbehara, the seat which he retained five years later. He was appointed a Deputy Minister by Sadiq, who by then had become Chief Minister. 

However, he fell out with the party a few years later and joined the Indian National Congress, a courageous but risky decision at that time given the unstinted support of most Kashmiris to Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, who was in jail. In 1972, he became a Cabinet Minister and also Congress party’s leader in the Legislative Council. He was made the state Congress president a couple of years later. 

As he rapidly grew in stature, Sayeed saw himself as the next Chief Minister of the state. However, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi entered into an accord with Abdullah and facilitated his return as chief minister. Not the one to give up easily, Sayeed engineered a coup of sorts ahead of the 1977 elections as Congress withdrew support to Abdullah’s government. The then Governor LK Jha brought the state under Governor’s rule for the first time. 

Sayeed’s stay in national politics was relatively short. Sayeed was shifted to Delhi and appointed as the Union Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation ahead of the 1987 assembly elections. 

But he soon quit to co-found Jan Morcha with VP Singh, who had quit Congress over the Bofors scandal. In 1989, he won the Lok Sabha election from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh as a Janata Dal candidate and became Union Home Minister in VP Singh’s cabinet. Towards the end of PV Narsimha Rao’s tenure as Prime Minister, Sayeed returned to Congress fold with daughter Mehbooba Mufti. Sayeed won the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat in 1998 general elections, while Mehbooba became Congress MLA in 1996. 

With his dream of becoming Chief Minister of the state still unfulfilled, Sayeed parted ways with Congress and floated a regional outfit – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – in 1999. Some of the things associated with the PDP are considered exemplary of Sayeed’s political genius.