‘Our position no different from BJP’s’: NC faces another swipe from within on statehood

After months of an ongoing rift within the National Conference (NC), the party’s Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi on Friday challenged the party leadership, stating that in asking for statehood, its position now "is no different from that of the BJP’s."

In his first direct communication to the party president, Ruhullah wrote to Dr. Farooq Abdullah and released the letter via social media. On August 25, speaking to reporters in Srinagar, Abdullah had said:

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"How long will you be a slave? You have to stand on your feet sometimes. When will you stand?"

Referring to this statement, Ruhullah said:

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"I must confess, those words resonated deeply with me. They captured a frustration many of us in Jammu-Kashmir feel: that even while asking for what is rightfully ours, we are expected to assume a posture of supplication before the BJP. May I then, with all the humility I can muster, ask: why should you object when I ask the very same questions?"

Taking a swipe at the party’s repeated assertions on demanding restoration of statehood from the Centre, the MP stated that by accepting statehood as the "outer limit of our political horizon", they are "legitimising and normalising the constitutional assault of August 2019, while signalling that the BJP’s political settlement for Jammu-Kashmir is acceptable to us."

He added:

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"We also risk surrendering the constitutional protections that are indispensable to our people, given our unique geo-political reality, culture, traditions, and fragile environment."