Srinagar: As the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are entering into the last leg, National Conference (NC) leader and Member of Parliament from Srinagar parliamentary seat Aga Ruhullah Mehdi said the NC will not form government with Bharatiya Janata Party on the basis of electoral arithmetic but will remain committed with its ideology and respect the sentiments of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
ETV Bharat caught up with the NC's main campaigner Aga Ruhullah Mehdi. Excerpts of the interview:
ETB: What impression do you make from the first two phases of the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir?
Mehdi: We have got a good response in the first two phases and we hope that the National Conference will perform better. I feel people are connected with the narrative and the aim for which the National Conference is campaigning.
ETB: If the National Conference gets a majority in the Assembly elections, what message will it telegraph to the Centre or to the world?
Mehdi: It will send a message to the people of India and to the world that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are not happy with the August 5, 2019 decisions of the BJP-led government. Our mandate will be a response and reply to the lies of the BJP-led government that the August 5, 2019 decision had the concurrence and consent of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
ETB: How will the elected government of NC-congress in a disempowered assembly take any measures against the August 5, 2019 decisions?
Mehdi: The assembly will convey to the world in a democratic way that the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir were taken away, the status of the assembly was downgraded, and we were deceived. We had not acceded to India for this disempowerment; all those conditions and basis were broken away on which we had acceded. The assembly will have to democratically struggle to get back the rights and special status. Assembly will be a platform for this struggle.
ETB: How will the representatives in the assembly be able or empowered to make any decision or struggle when the decisions are being taken in Parliament by the Government of India as per the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act?
Mehdi: An elected assembly will be the democratic platform to demand those democratic rights and powers. The assembly can approach the Supreme Court about the restoration of statehood which the court has spoken about. The important question is whether the August 5, 2019 decisions had the concurrence of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Its reply will be best given in the assembly. We tried to respond to it by taking to the streets but we are not allowed. We will not take any violent methods as we are against violence. The assembly will start a process of the struggle to demand the democratic rights which were snatched from us.
ETB: Why are NC leaders including Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah accusing other parties including the banned Jammat-e-Islami, Engineer Rashid's candidates as agents and proxies who are contesting the elections against NC?
Mehdi: Everyone has the right to contest elections in a democracy. We are not questioning their participation in the elections but on ideology and policy. What is your ideology and policy on which you are contesting elections? Some of the parties themselves said in the parliament elections that they are allies of the BJP. Engineer Rashid and other independents will divide the vote and voice of the people.
ETB: Then why didn't the NC contest elections with PDP as Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD)?
Mehdi: PDP started targeting NC and its founder late Sheikh Abdullah Sahab. There was a response from the NC also. So an atmosphere was created by PDP which didn't help strengthen the PAGD. Their speeches and controversy erupted after the District Development Council elections. PAGD was not formed for seat sharing but (for) a larger aim. Having said that, the National Conference is still working and will work to achieve that target.
ETB: If there is a hung verdict given by the voters in the assembly elections, will NC form a coalition government with the Bharatiya Janata Party?
Mehdi: Forming a coalition government with the BJP will be an insult. There will be no coalition with the BJP. This is my personal opinion, the party's opinion and the party knows, people also know that we will make a joke of the sentiments of the people. In case, such a decision is taken by the party, I will be against the decision of the party.
But people should remain assured that NC has to respect the sentiments of the people and a spokesman of these sentiments. Electoral arithmetic is no logic for allying with the BJP as was given by PDP in 2014. Arithmetic must not be a reason for government formation in the alliance; it should be ideology and your commitment. National Conference will not do anything based on electoral arithmetic.
