Srinagar, Oct 5: Estranged National Conference (NC) MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi slammed his party’s government in Jammu and Kashmir for allegedly bringing the struggle for the people’s rights down to statehood, asserting that it was “betrayal” of the mandate.
Speaking at the 5th Halla Bolle conclave here, Mehdi alleged that the NC has not even started the fight for restoring the constitutional rights of the people that were revoked on August 5, 2019.
Hitting out at the NC leadership, he said he has “countless” ideological differences with the RSS, but one thing worth learning from them is that they work toward their “flawed objectives with the discipline of a movement”.
“The 2024 assembly mandate had granted a categorical authority to NC that you must leave everything else aside…the people told us to fulfil our responsibility and fight the battle for our identity and our constitutional rights. For that, they entrusted us with a mandate, a categorical mandate was given as a trust,” he said.
The Srinagar MP said people across the country were fighting the BJP-led Centre over several issues like CAA, farmers’ issues, exam paper leaks and even deletion of names from electoral rolls.
“Everyone is fighting their battles. And the one who had the biggest fight to wage, who was supposed to fight most aggressively — of course within peaceful means — that very National Conference, after receiving the mandate, is making excuses not to fight it,” he said.
Referring to Ladakh and its political fight, Mehdi said J&K was more empowered than its erstwhile region.
“Ladakh fought against the BJP, brought the BJP to the negotiation table. However, in two years, we looked for every possible excuse as to why the battle shouldn’t be fought,” he added.
Pointing to the resolution passed by the Assembly in its recent autumn session that urged the Centre to urgently restore full statehood, Mehdi said the resolution had diluted the fight.
“They diluted their own resolution. Instead of fighting the battle, excuses were crafted not to fight. That very resolution was diluted to say, ‘We only want statehood’,” he said, referring to earlier resolution passed by the Assembly over special status restoration.
He asserted that bringing the fight down to statehood was “shifting the goalposts”.
“You were given a mandate to raise the goalpost, not to downgrade it,” he said, adding the Assembly and the chief minister “kept diluting the fight rather than starting it”.
Mehdi said he believes that the BJP government at the Centre would not restore statehood, but if it does, it would be a “humiliation” for the NC.
“If statehood is granted, it will be a humiliation for a grand organization and movement like the National Conference. The sole reason for whose existence was autonomy for this state. And if that pro-autonomy party, that force, trades autonomy for statehood, that is a humiliation,” he said.
He added that it would be a “compromise and a betrayal”.
“If we keep shrinking the goalpost, diminishing our objectives and dignity, and then pick up those trivial, humiliating crumbs and claim ‘this is our achievement’ — history will not judge you favourably. And one must understand who the fight is against. How to fight, and who this battle is with,” he asserted.
Mehdi claimed that the BJP, which seeks to “disenfranchise you at the most fundamental level, which wants to strip Muslims of the right to vote” would not grant the statehood to the largest state with a Muslim majority.
“Get this illusion out of your mind. The greatest weakness in my party is that they do not even realize who they are up against. They do not conduct themselves like a movement.
“I have countless, millions of ideological differences with the RSS, and those will remain. But one thing worth learning from them is that they are a movement; they conduct themselves like a movement. Their objectives may be wrong, but they work toward their flawed objectives with the discipline of a movement,” he added.
The influential Shia leader said the fight for the rights of the people requires clarity about who the adversary is.
“They (NC) must act like a genuine movement, honour this mandate, establish their own objective, and wage the battle. Whatever comes along the way in that process is secondary,” he said.
He asked the NC leadership whether it had engaged with national parties to build a consensus.
“How much outreach have they done to date? Post-2019, to seek these constitutional corrections, what roadmap have they presented? Has there been any discussion with the Congress, with the allies? Did they sit with them and discuss a remedy ”that in the coming years, how do we seek this correction?” he said.
“How many organizations across the country have they reached out to? How many states have they reached out to? Did they speak with the DMK? Did they speak with (SP chief) Akhilesh Yadav, (TMC chief) Mamata Banerjee?” he asked.
Mehdi said the fight needs to be a sustained, consolidated effort with a complete roadmap.
“This issue will not be resolved, nor reversed, by a single speech of mine, or 10 speeches by any individual. You have to create engagement. You have to lobby. You have to shape public opinion and create an atmosphere across the country so that through that atmosphere, your voice is heard, the truth of your stance is understood, its legitimacy is recognised.
“And through that opinion generation and lobbying, you can bring together the numbers in Parliament someday,” he said.
He warned that the NC would eventually have to fight the people of J&K because of the path they are walking on and positioning themselves directly opposite them.
“It was this very public that brought the NC to 40 or 42 seats. And if the aspirations of the people are not valued, this very public can cast the NC back down to where it was thrown before,” he said. ( PTI )
