In a major setback to Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling National Conference, Srinagar Lok Sabha MP and its most prominent Shia face, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, has resigned from the party and Parliament. The formal announcement was made on the 26th death anniversary of his father, Aga Syed Mehdi, at an emotional gathering in Budgam.
Accusing the National Conference of betraying the “anger, emotions and massive mandate” the people gave it in the 2024 assembly polls, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi said the party did an ‘about turn’ as soon as the electoral battle was over.
What he left behind was not just a resignation letter but a four-page political indictment of the party’s leadership. Without these, there is just erasure of a people. “This was a time when able and determined leadership was needed to take the struggle for rights further. But the NC abdicated this space for mere government and for a vain and vague promise of so-called restoration of statehood,” he charged.
Terming the abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A in 2019 as a ‘brazen assault’ on the rights of Kashmiris, he said, “Rights make a people.
Accusing the NC of betraying the “anger, emotions and massive mandate” the people gave it in the 2024 assembly polls, Ruhullah said the party did an ‘about turn’ as soon as the electoral battle was over. Sources close to this firebrand MP said he has no immediate plans to join another party and instead intends to build a youth-led collective, while making it clear he will not destabilize the Omar Abdullah government.
