‎‎Srinagar, Sep 29 (KNS): National Conference leader and Srinagar Lok Sabha MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi on Tuesday accused the ruling National Conference of diluting the electoral mandate of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that the 2024 vote was sought on the promise of fighting for the restoration of constitutional and political safeguards rather than merely seeking restoration of statehood.
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‎Speaking to reporters, Ruhullah said the political fight should remain focused on the “return of human rights” and the constitutional and political guarantees that, according to him, were taken away on August 5, 2019.
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‎“We will only fight for the return of our human rights. We will fight for the return of what was taken away from us on August 5. We will fight for the return of political and constitutional guarantees,” he said.
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‎He questioned the National Conference’s subsequent emphasis on statehood, recalling the party’s pre-election position that those who spoke only about statehood were working on the BJP’s agenda.
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‎He asked what had happened to the resolution adopted before the elections and the commitment made before the people.
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‎“We had resolved before the election that the one who talks about statehood works on the agenda of the BJP. What happened to that resolution? What happened to that resolution that was taken in front of the people and for which people voted?” Ruhullah said.
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‎He said voters had rejected forces advocating a statehood-centric approach and consolidated behind the National Conference with the expectation that it would fight against the changes of August 5 and seek restoration of constitutional guarantees.
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‎Ruhullah alleged that the mandate had subsequently been “confused” through a series of Assembly resolutions and amendments.
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‎“Sometimes one resolution is used to dilute the other, the second resolution to amend the third one. It is a joke with the people of Kashmir,” he said.
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‎He questioned whether the National Conference lacked clarity about its political objective when it sought votes from the people.
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‎“If they didn’t have clarity, if they didn’t know the aim, why did they go to the elections? If they didn’t have the clarity or the conscience to fight, why did they go to the people?” he asked.
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‎Ruhullah said that if the election was primarily a mandate for restoration of statehood, there was no need for what he described as a “mediator” in the form of the National Conference.
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‎“If it was a fight for statehood, they should have been excluded from the elections. Then people would have gone directly to the BJP for statehood. What was the need to keep a mediator?” he said.
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‎He maintained that the people of Jammu and Kashmir had voted with clarity and sought a consolidated mandate to avoid political ambiguity.
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‎“We, the people of J&K, voted with clarity. We voted with consolidation so that there would be no confusion,” he said.
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‎Ruhullah said the mandate, in his assessment, was specifically for a political fight against the changes made on August 5 and for restoration of constitutional protections.
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‎“To put it clearly, this mandate is for the fight against the August 5 resolutions, for the return of the constitutional guarantees,” he said.
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‎He accused the government of repeatedly modifying its political position and said the successive resolutions represented political convenience rather than a lack of clarity.
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‎“Sometimes one resolution, sometimes another resolution, then to dilute that same resolution, another amendment resolution. This is not confusion, but convenience. And to justify that convenience, it is presented as confusion,” he said.
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‎He further alleged that a “big mandate” had been wasted and warned that history would judge those responsible.
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‎Ruhullah also responded to recent remarks by Apni Party president Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari regarding alleged land purchases by non-locals in Jammu and Kashmir.
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‎Bukhari had recently held the ruling National Conference responsible for any demographic change in J&K and questioned the government over alleged land transactions involving non-local entities.
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‎Ruhullah said concerns over land, resources, jobs and demographic change had been raised much earlier.
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‎He referred to Bukhari’s recent remarks and said, “They saw it now. After August 5, when they went to Delhi to negotiate, to legitimise the status quo of J&K, then we were not saying this.”
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‎He said the concerns being raised today were precisely the issues that, according to him, had prompted opposition to the August 5 changes.
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‎“We are not crying that there will be a trade of land, there will be a trade of resources. There will be a demographic change here. There will be a trade of jobs. They understand now,” he said.
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‎Ruhullah asked why political leaders who now raised concerns over land transactions had earlier engaged with the Centre to negotiate over the post-August 5 status of Jammu and Kashmir.
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‎“When the land is being sold somewhere, they understand now. Then why did they go to negotiate with the sentiments of J&K? When they went to the Prime Minister first to justify the status quo,” he said.
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‎He said the concerns surrounding Article 370 were not abstract, but related directly to land, jobs, resources and demographic protections.
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‎“This fight of J&K was not in the air. When we talk about the constitutional protection of Article 370, we are not talking in the air. We are talking that land will be seized, resources will be seized, there will be demographic change,” Ruhullah said.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
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‎He maintained that the safeguards under Article 370 had protected the interests of the people of J&K irrespective of their religious or regional identity.
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‎“The people of J&K, whether they are Hindus, Muslims, Dogra, Kashmiris or anyone else, their status will end in this state. So we wanted the same protections in Article 370,” he said.
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‎Ruhullah said those who had earlier questioned the relevance of Article 370 were now raising concerns over land acquisition and other changes.
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‎“Those who used to say what was left in Article 370, why do they say that land is being seized from us today? This was there in Article 370 — the protection of land, the protection of jobs, the protection of demography, the protection of resources,” he said.
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‎He also said the earlier constitutional arrangement had provided people with greater control over decisions concerning the region.
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‎“You had the right to take your decisions. Now you understand what the loss is. Now you are saying the same thing that we have been saying for a long time,” he said.
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‎Ruhullah further alleged that those who had sought to legitimise the post-August 5 status quo had also contributed to the situation they were now questioning.
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‎On the controversy surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Ruhullah described alleged “vote theft” as more serious than the loss of property, employment or money because, he argued, a stolen vote removes the ability of citizens to change a government.
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‎“We see it as the whole country sees it. This vote theft is the biggest theft. If you are robbed of money, if you are robbed of a job, if you are robbed of land, you can get a government after five years through which you can rectify all this,” he said.
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‎“But when you are robbed of your vote, how will you make corrections? You cannot make any other correction because you have been robbed of the right to vote,” he added.
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‎The SIR exercise has become a major political controversy, with opposition parties alleging large-scale deletion of voters. Recent reporting has cited claims involving more than 13 crore names in draft electoral rolls, while the Election Commission has defended the revision process and rejected allegations of manipulation.
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‎Ruhullah said the issue went beyond the deletion of names from electoral rolls, arguing that voting was the mechanism through which citizens exercised their political agency.
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‎“You have been robbed of the right to bring change. You have been robbed of the right to make a government,” he said.
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‎He argued that voting was central to a citizen’s relationship with political parties, governments and administrative institutions.
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‎“A citizen in this country can feel like a citizen only by voting. You have been robbed of that right,” he said.
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‎Referring to the scale of the controversy, he said, “13 crore votes is not an easy thing,” and pointed to elections in West Bengal and Bihar as examples of the potential political consequences of changes to electoral rolls.
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‎He questioned how governments formed after alleged manipulation of electoral rolls could subsequently be reversed if citizens had already lost their voting rights.
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‎“This is not just a robbery of votes. It is a robbery of your citizenship. It is a robbery of your rights,” Ruhullah said.
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‎Ruhullah also called for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, saying he should have stepped down earlier amid allegations surrounding the functioning of the Election Commission.
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‎The remarks came amid an intensifying political row over the Election Commission and SIR. Opposition parties, including the Congress, have demanded Kumar’s resignation, while the Election Commission has maintained that internal differences in decision-making are part of institutional functioning and rejected allegations of manipulation.
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‎“It is too late. He should have resigned a long time ago,” Ruhullah said.
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‎He alleged that the Election Commission had witnessed a serious decline in credibility and functioning and said recent developments had further raised questions about the institution.
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‎“All the dilution and degradation that this Election Commission has seen, it probably has a past. So much degradation and corruption, morally corrupt, the Election Commission probably has a past. And now the facts are coming out,” he said.
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‎Ruhullah referred to reported disagreements within the Election Commission and said the emergence of such information from within the institution itself made the issue more serious.
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‎“And when the facts are coming out from within the Election Commission, then I don’t think it has any moral responsibility to continue at that place,” he said.
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‎He called for Kumar’s resignation as well as a wider restructuring of the poll panel.
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‎“He should resign too. And there should be a revamp in the entire Election Commission. There should be improvement,” Ruhullah said.
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‎He said the Election Commission’s role was fundamental to the functioning of democracy because elections determine the formation of governments and administrations.
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‎“The most basic need of this country, through which administration, government and other things come into existence, is elections. There should be improvement in the Election Commission, and elections should be fair and free genuinely,” he said.(KNS)