SRINAGAR: Srinagar MP Agha Ruhullah Mehdi on Saturday described November 3 as the point when he would “break those chains” and “free” himself, in his clearest indication yet of a political break from the present National Conference leadership and of a possible new political course after that date.
“First let me free myself from some chains on 3rd November. I will break those chains, I will free myself, I will cut the rope,” Ruhullah told reporters at Ganderbal.
He stopped short of announcing a new political party, saying that decision would be taken collectively after discussions with people across J&K.
“Whether to make a party or not, what to do, it will be a collective decision, with the people of the whole of Jammu and Kashmir, sitting together, and especially with the youths,” he said.
Ruhullah also offered a pointed criticism of the NC’s decision to have the Chief Minister from the Abdullah family, saying the party had the option of choosing someone else after the 2024 Assembly elections.
“If they wanted, they could have done a leadership role, they could have made a Chief Minister outside the family, they could have made someone else,” he said.
He followed it with a pointed remark on the Chief Minister’s post: “Chief Minister is a temptation, we could not resist that temptation.”
The remarks came as Ruhullah questioned the party’s approach to leadership and its decision to change positions on issues on which, he said, it had earlier taken a principled stand.
“Leadership is the name of principle stand. Leadership is the name of conviction,” he said.
Ruhullah said he was a first-hand witness to the developments within the party and claimed there had been no major pressure from the party to change its position.
“Till they did not have their own wish, they did not have their own need, they named that need as pressure, and they took that decision,” he said.
He also responded to remarks by NC MP Mian Altaf Ahmad about the government’s functioning, saying he did not want to interpret Altaf’s words.
“I respect him. He should interpret his own words,” Ruhullah said, adding that Altaf should explain himself if he had any complaint against the government.
He also referred to NC president Farooq Abdullah’s challenge to him, saying he would respond politically at the appropriate time.
“God willing, it is being arranged. We will play this match politically, in the coming time,” he said.
Ruhullah, however, asked that his political differences not overshadow the issue that had brought him to the protest site—the demand of veterinary students for an increase in their stipend.
He asked the Agriculture Minister to meet the students and said he would wait for a day or two for the department or higher authorities to engage with them. If that did not happen, he said, he would involve more people and amplify the issue.
He questioned the Rs 6,000 stipend being paid to the students, saying those who had spent years studying should not be expected to work for such an amount.
“If other states can get more than Rs 20,000 in stipends, I don’t think there is such a shortage in our state,” he said.
Ruhullah also raised the issues of medical interns and reservation, saying an elected government should listen to the people who elected it.
“When an elected government, which we have elected, behaves worse than the LG’s administration… then the concept of democracy and accountability fails,” he said.
On reservation, he urged the government to meet students before they were forced back onto the streets and explain the status of their file.
He said the veterinary students’ issue should be resolved through dialogue and urged the Agriculture Minister to meet them.(KNS)
