National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, both former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, have rarely found a common cause, except at the time of abrogation of Article 370 when they strongly opposed it.
Yet they agree on one thing, Sheikh Rashid, widely known as Engineer Rashid, MP from the Baramulla parliamentary constituency, is a “BJP proxy”.
While both Omar and Mufti have been staunch and strong advocates of releasing all jailed “political prisoners” (euphemism for militants), they have not welcomed Rashid’s release, which ideally they should have.
Rather, both of them have questioned his release from jail, alleging that he has been deliberately released to damage their (NC’s and PDP’s) prospects. In a way they have opposed his release on interim bail till October 2.
The two jittery leaders were not even subtle to hide their discomfiture over his release. Omar claimed that there was “something fishy” about Rashid’s release. Questioning the BJP’s intentions, he said, when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was released on a similar interim bail to fight elections, the BJP had opposed it, while it had welcomed Rashid’s release. “Somewhere there is something fishy”, he remarked. Omar did not appear to hide his hurt over getting defeated by Rashid three months ago from Baramulla. He said, “The people of Baramulla wasted their vote in the last election as he cannot go to parliament and speak for them…I pity the people of Baramulla as their MP received bail not to serve or represent them but to gain votes”.
Ms Mufti, compared to Omar, tried to be more nuanced in her reaction, although her discomfiture was too obvious. “Parents of poor jail inmates are not even allowed to meet them and some people are contesting elections from jail forming parties and vehicles and security are provided to them”, she said in an apparent reference to Rashid, adding, “You should come to know about the person contesting elections from inside the jail (Rashid)”.
There is a strong reason for both Omar as well as Mufti to feel jittery and uncomfortable over Rashid’s release from jail for the election purpose. He has been granted an “interim bail” till October 2.
Once bitten twice shy. Omar has already been "bitten" and beaten by Rashid in Baramulla parliamentary constituency in the General Elections. Omar, a former Chief Minister with huge resources, a strong party network and infrastructure was badly defeated by Rashid, without any supporting infrastructure or resources and despite having been in jail for over five years. Omar lost to Rashid by a huge margin of over 2 lakh votes.
Rashid has formed the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) and has fielded candidates across the Kashmir region of the union territory. While during the parliamentary elections, Rashid’s influence remained restricted to 18 assembly segments of the Baramulla parliamentary constituency only, now he has expanded his base across all the assembly segments. There is a lot of enthusiasm and excitement among people about his party.
Like elsewhere in India people get carried away by underdogs whom they see as rebels and victims, Rashid appears to have caught the imagination of a large number of Kashmiris. That is the reason, both Omar and Mufti are feeling concerned about him.
The easiest thing to target someone in Kashmir right now is to accuse him/her of being the “BJP proxy”. Even the PDP of Ms Mufti, when it was formed during the NDA regime when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister, was said to be the “BJP proxy”. Although at that time in 2002, the PDP formed a government in alliance with the Congress, later in 2014 it formed a coalition government in a post-poll alliance with the BJP. Maybe for Ms Mufti, seeing Rashid’s rise, there is a feeling of déjà vu.
Omar has already tasted defeat at Rashid’s hands, so he has strong reasons to feel apprehensive and afraid. Mufti is quite apprehensive for the same reasons. If the people of North Kashmir (Baramulla region, also called Kamraz region) can go along with Rashid, so can the people of South Kashmir (Anantnag region, also called Maraaz region) go along with him in the assembly polls.
The huge public rally Rashid addressed in Anantnag on Friday must give additional reasons to Ms Mufti about his popularity. Given the phenomenal response Rashid’s rally got in Anantnag, considered to be a stronghold of the PDP, should be worrisome for the PDP. More than the NC-Congress alliance, it is the PDP cadres, which are at risk of slipping towards Rashid. But that does not mean the NC-Congress alliance supporters will be immune to ‘Rashid temptation’.
Keeping Rashid’s Tihar record aside, there is an element of fatigue with the traditional parties, something similar to what happened in Punjab where the Aam Aadmi Party rooted out the Congress and the Akalis in 2022.
Besides, in Rashid’s case, there is an element of sympathy also that he has been in jail for over five years now. Compared to Rashid, Omar and Mufti have inherited politics and power without any personal contribution.
One thing is sure that Rashid is certainly going to upset many an applecart, no matter how many allegations of being a “BJP proxy” are hurled at him. Rashid may not be the idea whose time has come in Kashmir, but he is certainly providing an alternative to people from the “fatigue” of traditional parties.
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