‘National Conference beyond redemption’: Srinagar MP set to end ties with party | Political Pulse News
The two-year-long tumultuous relationship between the National Conference (NC) and its Srinagar MP, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, is set to end on Tuesday with the leader expected to announce his resignation both from the party and the Lok Sabha on the 26th death anniversary of his father, Aga Syed Mehdi.
Ruhullah is yet to chart out his political future, but appears to have a broad framework in place, one rooted in what he describes as the “character of principles and conviction”. For him, neither of Kashmir’s two main political parties, the NC and the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), measures up to that standard.
“I am already in touch with people. I am doing some headhunting. I am trying to find people with less or no (political) baggage, people who have some kind of intention and will to work on this path,” Ruhullah told The Indian Express. “It is a hard task, but I want to do this hard job. I want to take this responsibility because, in my opinion, this is the only remedy.”
A three-time legislator from the Budgam Assembly constituency, Ruhullah’s political career began at an early age. Two years after his father, a Congress leader, was killed in a militant attack in Magam, NC president Farooq Abdullah personally invited him to join the party and contest elections. Ruhullah, at the time, had just crossed the minimum age required to enter the electoral fray.
Who is Ruhullah?
A political scion, Ruhullah belongs to an influential Shia family in Budgam district, which has considerable sway in central Kashmir. His uncle, Aga Syed Hassan Mosavi, a Hurriyat leader, heads the influential Anjuman Sharie Shian, while his cousin, Aga Muntazir Mehdi, is the current PDP MLA from Budgam. Muntazir won the seat in the by-election necessitated by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vacating it, after Ruhullah decided against supporting the NC candidate.
The rupture between Ruhullah and the NC has been building, with disagreements over the party’s position on Article 370, its relationship with the BJP and what he sees as a departure from its electoral promises. Once a prominent face of the party, Ruhullah has increasingly distanced himself from its leadership. His public criticism of the Omar Abdullah government and its handling of key political issues, including the restoration of statehood and the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, has deepened the divide.
Ruhullah is preparing to challenge a political establishment that has survived nine decades of tumult and continues to remain the principal political force in Jammu and Kashmir, with an organisational network spread across the regions. He, however, believes that his challenge could prove difficult for the NC to navigate.
“My fight is an ideological fight. The PDP somehow managed to give them an ideological challenge for a brief period of time, and the NC couldn’t stand. There was an ideological challenge, a war of turf going on for a full 30-40 years in Jammu and Kashmir between the NC and Hurriyat Conference. I am not endorsing Hurriyat Conference. But when it came to ideological challenge, the streets were controlled by the other side,” he said.
‘NC lied and deceived’
Ruhullah has accused the NC of resorting to “lies and deception” during its election campaign and betraying the electorate through its conduct after coming to power. He says this was the principal reason behind his decision to leave the party.
“For example, he (Omar) says the BJP that snatched (Article 370) can’t give it back. He didn’t articulate the same reason during the elections. He articulated something opposite to it and said his job is to challenge the BJP. It means he lied and misled the people, betrayed the people. Either he was lying then or he is lying now,” Ruhullah said.
“I don’t believe in betrayals, I don’t believe in deceit. I believe in principle and convictions. (To resign) I needed clarity, and the clarity was given to me by the party president himself when he said if Aga Ruhullah thinks that Article 370 can be restored, he can go and get it restored, effectively meaning that he himself doesn’t believe that it can be restored, which again means he lied to the people.”
For Ruhullah, the 2024 Assembly elections presented the NC with an opportunity to course-correct, but the party failed to seize it. Instead, he believes, it betrayed the people by speaking the “language of BJP” after the elections.
His assessment of the party is unambiguous. “The NC is beyond redemption,” he said.
