Srinagar National Conference (NC) MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi has been openly critical of his party over issues such as the restoration of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, and reservation policy changes in the Union Territory. With the NC accused by its rivals of “compromising” on such issues, to be on the Centre’s right side, Ruhullah speaks to The Indian Express about his views on the matter and his call for an “improvement in polity”. Excerpts:
* You recently said that the quality of polity needs to improve. What did you mean by your statement?
This problem is nationwide, but we are more concerned about this place (J&K). You can say that there is a breach of trust between the people and the political establishment. The main reason is that words are not valued… Words and actions differ from when you are campaigning to when you reach the corridors of power. This itself is a reflection that something is wrong in politics.
… We have everything in the political discourse… elections, election winnability, votes, party, party manifesto, party discipline, hierarchy, party policies. We talk about the Centre-state relationship. At times, there is another important term, the ‘agencies’… But the important thing I find missing, and this results in the breach of trust, is the politics of conscience. We feel we are answerable to the party hierarchy. The political establishment, at times, feels we are answerable to agencies and to the Centre… But no one thinks that we are answerable to the conscience and to people.
The PDP got votes in 2014 on one agenda and did completely the opposite (aligning with the BJP) after getting elected. And this is what people feel we have (been doing)… People elected the NC for one purpose: that it will stand true to its promise, that it will struggle for the return of dignity and rights. And it may be too early, but as I see it, that promise is given little importance. I am not saying it has been forgotten.
* Have you taken some initiative in this regard?
I floated a thought, that it is something I need to share with the people – as to where lies the problem and how it could be fixed. I didn’t mean it in the way it was interpreted… that I am going to create a political front or a third front or a party. It won’t serve any purpose unless you fix the problem at the root itself. I am looking for people who agree with this.
* These people are welcome irrespective of political ideologies or affiliations?
Right. Irrespective of political affiliations… I am looking for people who can start this interaction, who can start this discourse in society… The event (where I talked about it) was not organised by my party but the civil society, and local party office-bearers were, in fact, against it. I went to that event hoping that those who have invited me will open the doors to that discourse and interaction with society… I will go around Kashmir and parts of Jammu division looking for people who can be part of this discourse.
* So have these conversations started or not?
Many people have expressed their willingness to be a part of this debate. I wouldn’t say it’s a movement at the moment, but (they want) to create a movement and be a part of it, regardless of their political affiliations… and irrespective of whether they are active in politics or not. They come from different walks of life… academicians, the business fraternity….
* If this means breaking away from the NC or the formal party structure, are you ready?
Anything that stops me from serving the way I want to serve – which is standing true to the conscience and the people – is a barrier that I am ready to break… I will continue to try and do some course correction so that we don’t need to break and remake things. We can make changes within, and if the changes do not happen, that should not be the end of the road for me and that should not be a barrier. If that is a barrier, I would be ready to break it anytime.
* How do you judge the performance of the Omar Abdullah government, which is now nine months old?
I would measure the performance of my own party or myself with the satisfaction of the people… If the people have certain questions that they feel need to be answered, I would ask those questions and concerns, so that they can be addressed.
Although it’s too early to judge, eight or nine months is a good time to reflect or to show the intent about which direction you are headed. At times, I feel that the promises that we made during the elections in terms of political agenda – forget local governance – we seem to be… not saying that we are… putting that on the backburner.
* What is the sense on the ground?
That the people are not satisfied.
* There is the argument that these are not ordinary times, with the NC-led government taking over after a long political vacuum and the constitutional changes of 2019. So how do you rate this government on the governance front?
They have been trying, but as you know there is a dual power structure (in J&K) and it is not letting them work the way they would have. The NC government still depends on the BJP’s Government at the Centre on how to implement things in Kashmir.
Having said that, the promises, the manifesto we made are yet to be implemented, although it is early. I hope that gets implemented.
* Your main demand has been restoration of constitutional rights to the people of J&K. The NC made pre-poll promises in this regard.
As I said, it seems we have put that agenda on the backburner… and that is the most important factor of dissatisfaction among the people. They did not vote for us to deliver on routine governance. I mean (even) the imposed L-G’s office could have delivered on routine governance. Other parties promised to deliver on routine governance. The BJP itself promised… But it is us who said that it is not a matter of routine governance… that we have a major issue and we need to address it.
(We said that) The status that we have been degraded to is unconstitutional, our rights were snatched, identity and dignity stripped off, and we need to fight back to reverse those decisions. Not only have we not spoken about that vehemently, but decisions that could have (conveyed) the seriousness of this government about its political agenda are missing… Employees get terminated and we have done very little to fight that… We have prisoners in different states, we have done very little to fight for their release… I would not say everything is in our hands, but we have done very little to fight against that…
And to take on the Government of India seriously, on issues of (the abrogated) Article 370, that is all missing… We promised a fightback… and that fightback is still missing.
* What about the view that CM Omar Abdullah is trying to be pragmatic in talking about just statehood and not the restoration of special status, as this government at the Centre won’t restore it?
I appreciate that, but that pragmatism (then) should have been from the election campaign itself. And if that is pragmatism, we could have been more pragmatic by allowing the BJP and its allies to form the government in J&K because the BJP itself promised they will give statehood. The parties, whom we call proxies (of the BJP) and those allied with the BJP, promised that we will get statehood restored… It was us who said it is not about the return of statehood alone, it is beyond that, and that is why the people elected us. It is what the people wanted…
If we wanted to behave like the BJP and its proxies, we should have presented ourselves like that in the elections. We gave the people of Kashmir a commitment and hope, and we need to stay true to that.
* You were the NC’s star campaigner during the Assembly elections, and made many promises on behalf of the MLA candidates of the party. What sense do you get from your conversations with them?
They promised to stand by their commitments and stand true to the people. They gladly promised me that if anything goes wrong, they would stand with me… But, the fact of the matter is, I am alone today…
* What about the issue of reservations? There are voices seeking rationalisation of reservation according to population, noting that now, open merit candidates have only 30% of the seats despite forming a bulk of the population. You had joined the protesters on the matter. The government formed a sub-committee.
It’s a genuine issue. We are not asking that injustice be done to any section. What the people, the students are requesting for is the rationalisation of reservations… It takes a toll on them, their careers… Now the sub-committee has presented its report, and we have been told that the report has been sent to the Law Department. I was expecting that the report would come back within a week, but it hasn’t.
* You earlier said that there is no communication between you and Omar Abdullah. Has anything changed?
No, our last communication was at the working committee (meeting), that’s it. And no, it hasn’t changed… No one speaks to me, no one approaches me. I feel very little need to reach out to people in the party. Yes, with Dr Sahib (Farooq Abdullah) there are some greetings exchanged on events such as Eid, but beyond that, we do not have any (interaction).
* The NC has been accused of itself sabotaging Bills in the J&K Assembly which sought the restoration of special status and denounced the Waqf Act amendments by the Centre.
A resolution (against the Waqf Act) should have come from the Assembly of J&K. It was very important. Unfortunately, it came from Tamil Nadu, but not J&K… The only Assembly in the Union of India which has a Muslim majority failed to pass a resolution or have a debate on the Waqf Act.
* You have been very critical of the current Indian government’s stand on Palestine.
One of my first questions after getting elected as an MP dealt with the relationship of India with Palestine, and how it sees the situation in Palestine. The answer I got was the official stand of the Government of India, that ‘We stand by the right of the people of Palestine to have their own State, and we stand by the right of the people of Palestine to defend themselves’. That’s the official policy of the Government of India.
But unfortunately, the policy of India is one thing, and then there is the policy of the BJP and RSS. The country’s foreign policy, domestic policy, Constitution have been hijacked by the BJP and RSS. And what do you call the terrorism that the Zionist regime carries out in Palestine?
The BJP government sees (the issue) from the prism of Muslims and non-Muslims… and, in that they, they always side against Muslims. They don’t care about the ‘genocide’ because it is happening to Muslims.
