There are no easy answers. Azad claims PDP ministers were part of the May 26 land transfer decision and it was the PDP’s betrayal for obvious political reasons that forced the crisis. Coming from someone who has the unique distinction of being AICC general secretary for 13 terms and who had been party in-charge of every single State and Union Territory in the country, his argument somehow ring hollow.
Congress sources believe that Azad was “favourably inclined” to playing the Jammu card in an election year, although he did not anticipate the issue would snowball into this. He was banking on differences in the PDP to carry him through. It was actually his calculation about “a split in the PDP” that kept him in office till the day of the vote of confidence in the Assembly, say sources. So confident was he that he is learnt to have asked Central leaders of the party to keep out of the state’s affairs.
Party sources say that since Azad’s experience as trouble-shooter far exceeded that of Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s present set of political managers, they didn’t dare to interfere.

According to Government sources, if there was some propaganda in the Valley about diversion of land to the SASB, the then regime failed to counter it. For instance, then Governor S.K. Sinha’s Principal Secretary Arun Kumar, who was also the Chief Executive Officer of the SASB, had reportedly given an impression at a press conference that the proposed structures could be permanent. Kumar was also reported to have made a comparison between the Shrine Board and the J-K Muslim Waqf Board, saying that nobody interfered in the matters of the Waqf Board. While Kumar’s remarks caused much furore in the Valley, the State government failed to clear the air.
As for the government’s reaction, after May 26, there was a gap of at least 20 days before the Valley saw its first protests even though political leaders and separatist elements made inflammatory speeches.

... contd.