Yawar Hussain
SRINAGAR: DD, In October of 2011, when the then National Conference Additional General Secretary Mustafa Kamal accused the Congress-led central government of being inimical to peace in J&K, the party ousted him from the post but only to reinstate him just six months later.
The reprimand from elder brother Farooq Abdullah, a union minister in the same central government, didn’t deter Kamal. His diatribes against his own party’s alliance government and New Delhi continued in the subsequent years.
On November 11, 2012, Kamal while addressing a rally in the Kishtwar district of Jammu said, “Why does India not agree to a no-war pact …..? If India carries on with such an attitude, then I have no hesitation in saying that our (Kashmiris’) biggest enemy is our own country…”
Kamal claimed that there was no militancy anywhere in the state: “If there is one, it is being kept alive by this side which is the biggest enemy of peace in the state.”
In 2013, Kamal went on to question even the accession of Jammu and Kashmir with the union of India.
However, his daily salvos didn’t bring him any tangible official action barring occasional criticism from his nephew and the then chief minister Omar Abdullah and brother Farooq Abdullah. With his continuance in the party, the political observers, retrospectively, have been terming Kamal’s anti-party and anti-New Delhi stands during the NC-Congress coalition government as a tactical political manoeuvre employed by the party under which one leader kept hitting out at New Delhi while the party leadership remained in power.
It is this political historicity of NC that is again keeping the political pundits guessing as to why NC’s firebrand Srinagar parliamentarian, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, is taking a seemingly anti-New Delhi and partly anti-party line. Is he a replacement for the frail octogenarian, Mustafa Kamal?
Mirror Images
Last month, Mehdi led a protest of general category students to the gates of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s Srinagar residence calling for a revision of the reservation percentages in the union territory. Mehdi was flanked by NC’s arch rivals from the Peoples Democratic Party along with others.
However, what caught the eye of political pundits was that the junior Abdullah had suspended all his activities in the winter capital Jammu, a day prior, to be in Srinagar in the wake of a heavy snow forecast. As soon as Chief Minister Omar declared the suspension of his programmes in Jammu on social media platform X, Mehdi took to the same platform to announce that he will lead a protest to the CM’s Srinagar residence cum private office and invited everybody desirous.
A senior Valley-based journalist, wishing anonymity said that it seems that the chief minister’s curtailment of all programmes in Jammu was aimed at ensuring his availability during the protest.
“If there had been no chief minister inside that building, what purpose would have the protest served? Chief Minister’s responsiveness and large-heartedness towards criticism was the key takeaway from the whole fiasco,” the journalist said, adding that Omar in a presser recently stated that freedom within the party gave Mehdi the will to protest against him.
“This is an answer to those who always called the NC’s leadership autocratic,” the journalist quoted CM Omar saying.
The journalist added that by organising a protest against his own party’s government, Mehdi also usurped the opposition’s space. “That protest was designed to depict that even opposition leaders including Iltija Mufti required Mehdi’s tutelage to protest against the NC government.”
However, the protest made Mehdi face brickbats from his party colleagues who accused him of doing “drama” in the camaraderie with NC rivals.
It is these similar brickbats which Kamal had to face in 2012 when his nephew and the then CM Omar Abdullah hit out at him vociferously.
“Funny thing is I don’t need anyone to make things difficult for me when I have relatives to do it for me,” Omar had said in the backdrop of Kamal’s repeated statements against alliance partner Congress, New Delhi and the Indian Army.
However, Kamal’s tirades continued but so did his position within the party. Subsequently, he even went on to accuse the senior and junior Abdullah of succumbing to the Congress’s pressures in the alliance government.
Like Kamal, Mehdi has also stuck to his anti-Centre line even though his party president Farooq Abdullah recently stated that whoever wants to fight with the central government should fight but Omar’s government won’t take cajoles. The senior Abdullah’s words while seemingly strong were directed at Mehdi but he like Kamal also hasn’t faced any concrete action from the party.
This intangible chasm within NC—with one side criticising New Delhi, day in and day out, while the other being soft—has been integral to the party’s political armoury even before Kamal’s era began around 2009. Kamal succeeded his other brother, the NC giant, Sheikh Nazir in this forte of anti-New Delhi politicking by the party.
Till his death in 2015, Sheikh Nazir always publicly expressed that he was a Kashmiri rather than an Indian citizen. His public posturing against New Delhi continued even though it was under him that the all-powerful general secretary’s office doled out mandates to party leaders to contest elections under the ambit of the Indian constitution.
It is this political baton of the party, which some political observers opine is being carried forward by Mehdi after Nazir and Kamal have exited the political scene of the Valley.
Noor Ahmad Baba, former professor of political science at Kashmir University, said that even though it is difficult for one to say whether Mehdi is taking forward the same political baton but what is evident is that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is taking a pragmatic route while Mehdi is more radical in his views.
“It could be a policy decision in the party. Many political parties employ such manoeuvres where certain leaders are propped to take stands which the leadership cannot espouse themselves,” Baba said.
He said while antagonising the centre right now can have serious consequences for the Omar government, the Srinagar parliamentarian Mehdi has no such thing to fear.
“Speaking the way he (Mehdi) is, it will only boost his stature.”
Baba said that if Omar continues this reconciliatory approach with the Centre and gets nothing in response then Mehdi’s approach could be adopted by Omar as well, which is in line with the political history of the party.
Kayfabe Politics?
Kayfabe, a Latin slang term is the ability of wrestlers to create an alternate reality for those viewing the show and make them believe that what they are watching is in fact a “real” contest.
Like professional wrestling, the world of politics utilises Kayfabe to boost public support for policies and politicians. The public is propagandised constantly by political leaders.
The contrasting opinions coupled with scenes of CM Omar and MP Mehdi being at loggerheads have been on display since the former took office in the union territory.
While Omar as chief minister has been frequently seen in the company of the Prime Minister and Union Ministers since government formation, Mehdi, on the other hand, has been vociferously critical of the central government.
In the previous session of the parliament, Mehdi called the central government’s two proposed railway projects in the Kashmir valley “colonial” initiatives demanding a Social Impact Report to be tabled on the issue.
On the other hand, Chief Minister Omar said that development also needs to go hand in hand with people’s concerns around land loss being given weightage as well. “We will ensure to the fullest extent possible that routes chosen for roads and railway projects are mainly on unproductive lands.”
On tourism influx, while CM Omar recently outlined that his government plans to upgrade the skiing facilities at Gulmarg along with pitching for revision of travel advisories of various countries, Mehdi termed the episodes of consumption of alcohol publicly by tourists as “cultural invasion” rather than calling it tourism.
On being asked about the reservation protest led by Mehdi, CM Omar divulged that he and Mehdi have never shared a relationship where they would greet each other every morning even though Omar contested assembly polls from Budgam, a relatively safer seat and a bastion of Mehdi, who has represented the constituency thrice in the assembly.
In an interview recently, Mehdi, who is perceived to be closer to NC President Farooq Abdullah, termed the senior Abdullah as a more Kashmiri nationalist than his son Omar.
However, while Mehdi and Omar are distancing themselves publicly from each other, the pictures of their campaigning through north Kashmir’s Pattan and Sonawari assembly segments, during last year’s assembly elections, long into the midnight hours, depicted a contrary camaraderie between the two.
Post the reservation protest, Chief Minister Omar said he now expects Mehdi to lead a similar protest in New Delhi for J&K’s statehood by garnering the support of opposition parliamentarians. Mehdi swiftly accepted Omar’s advice but went on to suggest that he (Omar) shouldn’t distance himself from the fight for the aspirations of the people and the mandate he got.
“I’ve been informed about an urge and desire to protest for statehood in Delhi. I AM READY to participate in such a protest, and invite those prioritising statehood to organise it. I will also try to organise support from at least more than 100 Hon’ble MPs,” Mehdi said.
He went on to warn Abdullah about the risks of being perceived as “Delhi’s representative” in the Valley. “People are worried that things might not go the way they thought.”
The duo has also taken seemingly parallel stands on the issue of Article 370. The Omar Abdullah government passed a resolution in the assembly which didn’t mention the exact changes brought in on August 5, 2019, but instead chose the words “constitutional guarantees” promised to Jammu and Kashmir. While Mehdi was seen in attendance on the day of the passing of the resolution in the J&K assembly, his stand on the issue has become more vociferous in comparison to Omar who, post the resolution, started talking more about statehood citing that the assembly had done its role vis-à-vis Article 370 restoration.
“I won’t seek pre-August 5 status from the same BJP dispensation which took it away,” Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said.
Contrary to this, Mehdi claimed that the fight should be for Article 370 restoration and not just mere statehood.
“The abrogation was a political statement, a declaration that our sacrifices mean nothing and that our future is theirs to dictate. Given this betrayal, this calculated attempt to break our spirit and subjugate our will, I cannot, in good conscience, sidestep from the fight for our special status and settle for the hollow promise of mere statehood. Shouldn’t our voices first rise for our honour, our identity, and the autonomy we have long been denied?” he said.
The deepening divide or tacit understanding within NC ranks was on display again during the inauguration of the Sonamarg tunnel earlier this month by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While Chief Minster Omar went to take stock of the arrangements a day before the Prime Minister’s visit, he also tagged the Prime Minister in his pictures, prompting a reaction from the latter who said that he loved the pictures and was eager to come for the inauguration.
The next day, while CM Omar thanked the Prime Minister for conducting elections in J&K, he went a step further to claim that even clouds had vanished from the sky for the Prime Minister’s visit.
“There might be cold outside but our hearts are filled with warmth,” Omar said while reminding Prime Minister Modi of his promise to restore the statehood of J&K.
While this newfound bonhomie between the Prime Minister and Chief Minister in Sonamarg grabbed headlines, the show-stealer became Mehdi’s absence from the event even though he represents the area in the parliament.
To douse the flames, Chief Minister’s Advisor Nasir Aslam Wani stepped in saying that there was nothing controversial in Mehdi’s absence as he was in Kochi fulfilling prior commitments.
The next day, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reciprocated Omar’s praise for PM Modi by saying that he (Omar) was helping Modi-govt in its efforts to bridge “dil ki doori” (distance of hearts) with the people of Kashmir.
With these contrarian positions taken by CM Omar and MP Mehdi, the by-polls to the Budgam assembly seat, which Omar vacated for Ganderbal, have brought back the debate around whether the politics by Kayfabe is at play or is a pandora’s box about to be opened within NC.
While sources indicate that CM’s Advisor Nasir Aslam Wani would be the party candidate from Budgam, it is Mehdi’s blessings on the seat which are crucial for any candidate to win. With Omar and Mehdi publicly drawing daggers, a recent surprise visit to Mehdi’s Budgam residence by Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Chowdhary and Wani has provided more impetus to the theory of Kayfabe being at play.
Sources within the party reveal that Mehdi’s preference about candidature for the seat was sought in the meeting before the party zeros in on the nominee.
Sources reveal that while CM Omar favours Wani, who was also bestowed with the Kupwara seat’s mandate, the party needed to gauge Mehdi’s mind as well.
A senior journalist wishing anonymity said the visit was to give Mehdi the cushion to support the party’s candidate publicly in the by-polls as he would portray that the leadership reached out to him even after his anti-party stances.
“The show of infighting would start again after the elections are over.”
These contrasting positions taken by Mehdi and Omar on various issues, with the former even claiming to cut hands which come to harm NC, leave one wondrous whether the party is doing politics by Kayfabe or if Aga Ruhullah Mehdi is becoming a rebel.
Rebel?
While there are observers who see Mehdi as the current protagonist of NC’s politics by Kayfabe, there are also political commentators who opine that there is more to Mehdi’s posturing than what meets the eye.
His contrary position on almost every party policy is being seen as a brewing rebellion within the ranks of J&K’s grand old party.
A former NC leader wishing anonymity said that after his political stature started to rise, the party leadership started to have problems with him.
“I was more visible in public forums and television debates than Abdullahs but then the party leadership, through second rung leaders started an internal campaign to discredit me leading to my resignation,” the leader said.
He opined that Mehdi has set on a more contrarian path giving him more limelight, which in future, won’t go down well with the Abdullahs. “Even if the party has given him this role, the leadership would soon have problems with him. He (Mehdi) can never be Mustafa Kamal or Sheikh Nazir because the latter duo were Farooq’s brothers.”
While the scepticism about Mehdi lingers, his reply to party colleague Salman Sagar’s “pure drama” barb left political pundits flummoxed about his politics.
Quoting from Malcolm X’s famous speech, Mehdi wrote on social media platform X, “The House Negro and the Field Negro,” which highlights the divide between those who align themselves with oppressive systems and those who resist.
“Back during slavery, when Black people like me talked to the slaves, they didn’t kill ’em, they sent some old house Negro along behind him to undo what he said. There were two kinds of Negroes – the house Negro and the field Negro. The house Negro always looked out for his master… And today, you still have house Negroes and field Negroes.”
“…field Negroes, who lived in huts, had nothing to lose. They wore the worst kind of clothes. They ate the worst food. And they caught hell. They felt the sting of the lash. They hated their master. Oh yes, they did. If the master got sick, they’d pray that the master died. If the master’s house caught a fire, they’d pray for a strong wind to come along. This was the difference between the two,” Mehdi wrote on X.
“I’m a field Negro.”
A political analyst said that there seems to be a deep ideological rift within the NC of which Mehdi has become the face.” His positioning as someone who claims to advocate for the marginalised people, against those perceived to be accomplices in systemic inequalities in itself shows that he is creating the chasm with the Abdullahs himself,” the analyst said.
He said that Mehdi’s House Negro and Field Negro analogy has positioned the Abdullahs as the current-day people who still espouse the return of slavery or already practice it within their party.
Author and political analyst Rekha Chowdhary said that Mehdi is more ambitious given the secured position of a parliamentarian while Chief Minister Omar Abdullah doesn’t enjoy that space to employ such political manoeuvres.
“I believe that Mehdi either wants to expand his base in Kashmir or within the party because he knows that Omar is facing constraints as the head of a union territory government where the Centre holds more power,” Chowdhary said.
She opines that Mehdi’s aggressive positioning doesn’t hold Omar’s consent because it harms the chief minister more than it can harm the party.
With by-polls to Budgam’s seat likely to be held as the weather improves in Kashmir, the clouds engulfing the theories of rebellion or Kayfabe for the readers of this piece will also be swept away as spring is coming… DD
Yawar Hussain is a senior journalist based in Srinagar.