The Opposition National Conference-Congress alliance on Monday raked up the recent election results in UP and the elevation of Yogi Adityanand to the Chief Minister’s chair to fight the bypoll in two lok Sabha constituencies against the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), an ally of the BJP.
“India is burning in the fire of communalism. If the flames are not doused immediately, they will engulf entire India, Jammu & Kashmir and even go beyond the borders, former Chief Minister and NC president told a gathering of supporters after filing his nomination papers for the lok Sabha by-poll scheduled on April 9. Interestingly, he was flanked by Tariq Hameed Karra who defeated him in the 2014 elections. Karra, a former PDP leader resigned from the party and the lok Sabha seat in protest against 2016 killings in Kashmir. He was critical of the PDP-BJP alliance.
Abdullah described the PDP as the creation of RSS and asked the people to fight the ingress of the Hindu nationalistic party into Jammu & Kashmir. “We were educating people on the origins of PDP but now it is proven beyond doubt as the BJP is campaigning for the PDP candidates,” Abdullah said.
Speaking on the occasion, Karra said that the PDP would be completely decimated in Kashmir because it reneged with the people’s mandate to join hands with the BJP. “The PDP has lost the people’s confidence. It aligned with a party that is against Kashmir and Islam,” Karra said.
Karra joined the Congress in New Delhi in January after relinquishing his lok Sabha seat that necessitated the by-poll.
Meanwhile, PDP’s nominated candidate Nazir Ahmad Khan also filed his nomination papers at the Deputy Commissioner’s office. Khan recently quit the state Congress and re-joined the PDP he had quit around 17 years ago.
Khan, son of a former Minister fought 2014 Assembly election against the then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah from central Kashmir’s Beerwa constituency and lost with a thin margin. He was accompanied by prominent Shia leader and sports minister in Mehbooba Mufti’s Cabinet Imran Reza Ansari.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti reached out to Ansari a day before and announced to sort out issues with him. Describing her as “younger brother”, Mehbooba said
that she would accommodate Ansari’s concerns who is not happy with his portfolio and had tendered resignation after the recent Cabinet reshuffle.
Ansari’s active participation in the poll campaign is essential for the PDP candidate as the Srinagar constituency comprises a sizeable population of Shias, mostly concentrated in Budgam district.
In another interesting twist, langate legislator and chief of Awami Ittihad Party Sheikh Abdur Rashid declared that his party would not field candidates in the parliamentary by-poll in Anantnag and Srinagar even as his party believes in democratic process and institution of electoral process.
“Our party believes in democratic processes. I believe that be it assembly, parliament or any other democratic institution, world bodies acknowledge it only,” he said adding no one becomes Indian or Pakistani or anti-Kashmir by taking part in the electoral processes. “Our principled stand is that elections in no way do impact the Kashmir issue,” he said.
However, Rashid said that during the last months the situation in the valley has been turbulent and holding or participating in elections at this time is not in the interest of the people of Kashmir and it will mislead world bodies on the Kashmir dispute. “As such we will not take part in the elections,” he said.
“The mainstream parties have played such a dirty role during the turbulent eight months that one feels ashamed to go to the people and ask for votes. The reputation of the word mainstream has been degraded,” he said.
Even as the notifications have been issued for Anantnag and Srinagar by-poll, there is no poll fervor visible anywhere in the two constituencies. The ruling PDP has nominated chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s brother Tasaduq Mufti to contest the south Kashmir by-poll. The Congress-NC combine has fielded JKPCC chief and former minister Gulam Ahmad Mir against the junior Mufti.