Could strident stand of its Srinagar MP end up helping National Conference in Kashmir?

On December 23, a rare protest was held outside the Srinagar residence of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. In the bone-chilling cold, scores of young men and women descended on Gupkar Road – home to Kashmir’s powerful bureaucrats and politicians.

The call for the demonstration had come from Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, the member of Parliament from Srinagar.

Ruhullah was lending his weight to ongoing protests against changes in Jammu and Kashmir’s reservation policy announced last year by the Lieutenant Governor-led administration.

But, in doing so, he was also staging a protest against his own government – Ruhullah is a member of the National Conference, the party recently voted in by the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

This is not the first time that Ruhullah has taken a position that is at odds with his party in the last five years.

Ever since the Narendra Modi government scrapped Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019 and downsized Jammu and Kashmir into a union territory, Ruhullah has fiercely advocated fighting for the restoration of special status and autonomy. His party, however, has ostensibly prioritised getting back statehood.

A day after the protest, a National Conference leader lashed out. “If grievances truly needed redressal, there were better ways to address them,” Salman Ali Sagar,…

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