Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi is a Srinagar MP and a veteran National Conference leader. He has been actively campaigning for his party in these Assembly polls, particularly for former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Abdullah contested from two seats, Ganderbal and Budgam, in this election. This is the first Assembly election in J&K after a decade and the first under Union Territory (UT) status. Polling for 50 seats has already been held in J&K in two phases, while polls for 40 seats will be held in the third phase on Tuesday.
While talking to Outlook, Mehdi discussed a range of issues, including Hezbollah leader Syed Hasan Nasrullah's killing, the situation post-5 August 2019, concerns in J&K about land rights and jobs, government formation under UT status, and his stance on other issues.
Reporter: Ubeer Naqushbandi
Camera: Yasir Iqbal
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#JammuAndKashmirElections #AssemblyPolls2024 #RuhullahMehdi #OmarAbdullah #Ganderbal #Budgam #Article370 #KashmirIssues #ElectionUpdates #HezobollahDeath #Hezbollah
While talking to Outlook, Mehdi discussed a range of issues, including Hezbollah leader Syed Hasan Nasrullah's killing, the situation post-5 August 2019, concerns in J&K about land rights and jobs, government formation under UT status, and his stance on other issues.
Reporter: Ubeer Naqushbandi
Camera: Yasir Iqbal
Follow us:
Website: https://www.outlookindia.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Outlookindia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outlookindia/
X: https://twitter.com/Outlookindia
Whatsapp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaNrF3v0AgWLA6OnJH0R
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OutlookMagazine
Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com/outlookindia
#JammuAndKashmirElections #AssemblyPolls2024 #RuhullahMehdi #OmarAbdullah #Ganderbal #Budgam #Article370 #KashmirIssues #ElectionUpdates #HezobollahDeath #Hezbollah
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome. Today at Outlook we have got with us Srinagar MP and senior
00:05National Conference leader Syed Agha Rohla with us. Agha sahib, welcome to Outlook.
00:10Thank you. Tell us about recently you stopped your election campaign midway
00:15after the death of this Hezbollah leader Syed Nasrullah. How does Syed Nasrullah
00:23echo in Kashmir? What is the significance of this Hezbollah leader in Kashmir?
00:28Anyone who is oppressed and understands what oppression is, anyone who
00:33stands for the cause of the people of Palestine and anyone who is
00:39oppressed throughout the world understands how Hassan Nasrullah echoes in
00:44Jammu and Kashmir and many other parts of the world. We have witnessed a
00:50genocide of the people of Palestine. We have witnessed a complete slaughter
00:56of generations of people of Palestine. So any resistance that has been offered
01:04from the side of the people of Palestine has been from these people and Hassan
01:13Nasrullah has been the backbone of that resistance and has been the hope of the
01:17people who were oppressed and who continue to be oppressed and this is a
01:22great damage to the resistance and resistance to the oppression. So out of
01:28that respect and with solidarity to the people of Palestine, I called off my
01:34campaign. Okay, coming back to elections, how significant are assembly polls in
01:38Jammu and Kashmir right now? These elections are a way to express our
01:47dissent against the decisions taken on August 5, 2019 and these elections are
01:56one of the means to stop Kashmir from becoming another Palestine. Okay. We, I
02:04mean we are at the verge of becoming one more Palestine. On the verge you are
02:10saying? On the verge of becoming one more Palestine because the
02:16land right, the job right, the identity and the right to maintain the right to
02:25religion has been taken away from us. Okay. And exactly the way the whole
02:32demography, the whole I mean set up of Palestine was changed 40, 75 years ago.
02:40Same as started in Jammu and Kashmir by the abrogation of 370. So this election
02:47is very important in many ways. Okay. Post August 5, Agha Sahib was saying you know
02:532009 when this abrogation all these things happened, he was saying that this
02:58assembly now has been left akin to a municipality. So today you are campaigning
03:03for your party, you know asking people to vote for your party. Isn't, doesn't it
03:08reflect your change of stand? I would have wanted the entire people of entire
03:15society of Jammu and Kashmir to reject this assembly. I, I said that at many
03:20occasions that I'll not be the part of this assembly. I, when I said I won't be
03:26the part of this assembly, I wanted everyone to reject the status of this
03:30assembly and it's not me alone. It's the entire society from people to the
03:39political establishment everyone was and is willing to contest this assembly
03:44elections and for good reasons also. Therefore it's our responsibility to at
03:48least not allow the BGP to take this institution, not allow the BGP to take
03:54over the, I mean, democratic, democratically elected assembly. This is
04:01our responsibility to, I mean, at least start from this institution to push back
04:06and start the struggle to get back the rights that we have lost in August 2019.
04:11If this assembly at least sends a resolution and says that the decisions of 2019 are unacceptable to us,
04:22at least that will be a democratic counter to the argument of the BGP.
04:28That 370 was abrogated with the concert of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
04:36So this institution will provide a platform for the people of Jammu and Kashmir to democratically push
04:43back and then start the struggle to, I mean, get back the rights.
04:47Just despite when you are saying that this assembly will be a kind of a
04:51toothless tiger kind of a thing.
04:53I agree to that. This, not this assembly, this administration entirely will not be as strong as it used to be.
05:01But at least there will be some, I mean, respite in terms of administration.
05:05At the moment the state is run by the officers who are alien to the society,
05:11who are not part of the society, who are not accountable to the society, who are not answerable to the society.
05:17And that at least at certain levels will be replaced by the people who will be elected by the people,
05:23who will be connected and accountable to the people.
05:27At some levels there will be a respite. But as I said, in comparison to the earlier assembly,
05:35this will be comparatively a toothless tiger. But it has its responsibility, it has its own job,
05:41it has its, I mean, it will have the mandate to send that political message.
05:47This is more of a political struggle than administrative struggle.
05:51So, this assembly has, will have a responsibility to get the strength back that it had
05:57and then start serving the people from the position of strength.
06:02Okay, you are playing, you know, engineer Rishi, you said that your party president, Dr. Farooq Abdullah
06:08and Umar Abdullah already knew about this abrogation kind of a thing.
06:13So, how do you react to this? Did you had any link, any link about 5th August 2019
06:19that Kashmir special status will be abrogated and all?
06:23As far as my knowledge goes, no one knew about the abrogation of Particle 3C.
06:27Nobody knew about it? No, nobody knew about it.
06:29But Rishi told me, engineer Rishi recently told me, a year before he was called to Delhi by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
06:37He had this idea, he got this sniff that Article 370 would be abrogated. And he also told me this, that Dr. Farooq, Dr. Sahib,
06:46you know, your party president. Then the person should be posed at him. If he knew, why didn't he tell the people of J&K that this thing is going to happen.
06:52But he also said that your party president and Umar sahib, former J&K chief minister also knew about this.
06:58I mean, at least he has accepted about himself. Okay. Then he has levelled an allegation against someone else.
07:05He will have to, I mean, prove that. In terms of him, it doesn't need to be proved because he himself has accepted it.
07:13But in terms of the others, it has to be proved. According to my knowledge, I don't know, I don't have any, I mean,
07:19information that the national conference was privy to the, I mean, information.
07:25We made our guesses. The best guess that we could make before when there was a build up, before August 5,
07:34the best guess that we could make was that they are intending to tamper with 35A. That was the best guess.
07:42No one could ever imagine that 370 will be abrogated. It was constitutionally not possible.
07:50So, he was saying that mainstream was not taken on board by Delhi for this August 5, 2019.
07:56As far as my knowledge goes, no. Mainstream was not taken on board. Except for Ijner Rashid, as you said, he has himself
08:01accepted that he was the person who was called a year ago, a year before the abrogation of article 370.
08:07He should have told the world. Forget about the others. Let's ask the question, I mean, we'll pose the question to Dr. Farooq sahib.
08:14But at least Ijner Rashid has accepted. Now, ask him the question. Why didn't he tell?
08:19Would that have saved, would that have saved, do you think, this article 370 from abrogation and 35A?
08:24We may have tried. At least we may have tried. We may have tried to find means to save article 370.
08:29If I am not wrong, in some other interview he has also accepted the same thing and he has gone on
08:35in saying that he told, in return he told Modi that whatever Modi wanted to do, he will be fine with that.
08:43That Ijner Rashid will be fine with that. I don't know whether he has said the same thing to you or not.
08:48So, that says a lot about, I mean, what has happened in that conversation.
08:53But in terms of my party, I am not privy to any information. I don't, I mean, as far as my knowledge goes,
09:02I don't know this thing has happened. Anyone from our party was called and informed about the abrogation of 370.
09:08Ok, Agar Sahib, since Ijner Rashid is your colleague, you know, inside parliament,
09:12will you be working with him for the betterment of Jammu and Kashmir?
09:17I will work with anyone for the betterment of Jammu and Kashmir. But the question is, will he be able to work in the parliament?
09:24He has not been allowed to work in the parliament since he got elected. He is only on interim bail.
09:31And that too, I think, for the campaigning in this election. And this interim bail will come to end after a couple of days.
09:40Will you raise voice for Ijner Rashid inside parliament?
09:43We have already raised voice for him. But since he is out now on interim bail, he can raise voice for himself also.
09:50So, he is not addressing those issues. Whenever he addresses those issues, we will help him.
09:55Ok, Agar Sahib, let's come back to this question. Your centre has been claiming that there is absolute normalcy in J&K post 5th August 2019. Is it like that?
10:04Silence is not normalcy. Forced silence is not normalcy.
10:08Is there forced silence?
10:10There is forced silence. It's a forced silence.
10:12BJP government has been claiming that there have been no killings.
10:15You can ask friends from your fraternity, for the last 5-6 years, if they reported facts against the ruling regime, they were slapped with PSA, UAPA.
10:29That's one example. We have multiple examples of human rights activists being slapped with PSA and UAPA and booked and put in jail.
10:41Many journalists were intimidated, put in jail. Political activity was completely missing. It was not allowed. There was no political space for dissent.
10:50It's only for the parliament election that political activity was allowed and some sort of dissent was allowed.
10:57We started. Otherwise, for the last 5 years, nothing was allowed.
11:01No fact is being reported. Anyone who tries to report the fact is put in jail.
11:07All the newspapers, news houses, media houses that work from J&K are taken over and filtered by the regime.
11:17Filtered news is being presented in Kashmir?
11:20Yes, it's completely monitored and filtered.
11:22There are only few independent journalists and those who come from outside the state dare to put some facts in their reports.
11:32In terms of killings, you have seen Yatris got killed, you have seen many civilians got killed in targeted killings.
11:40You have seen many soldiers and men from the security forces got killed and the number rises.
11:46And that too in the area where the militancy was unprecedented. It never happened.
11:51So, situation for you is not normal in Kashmir?
11:54It's not normal. In some terms, as I said, it's a forced silence. Have they addressed the sentiment? No, they have not.
12:03Okay, Agha sahib, tell me about it. You seem to be only talking, you know, you are striking chords with masses in Kashmir.
12:09What different are you doing? What others are not doing in your party?
12:13Is it sort of intentional that the kind of politics you are doing right now?
12:18I don't know what others are not doing. I know what I am doing.
12:21I am talking about your party.
12:22I am doing the simple thing.
12:23You have, you know, in the past five years, you have turned into a star leader for national conference.
12:29I am not doing anything extraordinary. I am just connecting to my people.
12:34How? What are you telling to your people?
12:36Listening to them. Listening to them.
12:37What are they saying?
12:38Understanding their sentiment.
12:39Okay.
12:40And then speaking that sentiment. That's very simple.
12:42What is the sentiment?
12:44Their sentiment is that we do not want to be the second class citizens of this union.
12:49We did not exceed to become the second class citizens of this union.
12:55We exceeded to this union on certain terms and those terms and conditions should be respected and restored.
13:03The status to which we have been degraded is completely unacceptable to us.
13:07We want to be the masters of our own dignity. That's as simple as it could be.
13:11You have recently said that if your party national conference does not, you know, come to the aspirations of the people,
13:18if it doesn't fulfill the aspirations of the people, you will not hesitate from leaving the party.
13:22You will not take, you will not hesitate from taking on a different route.
13:26I have been saying this.
13:27What made you say that?
13:28I have been saying this since the opening of this campaigning and I said it in a context that the people of J&K,
13:34I think at this time are going to trust national conference with a good mandate.
13:39And I asked my party not to, I mean, even think about going in alliance with BJP.
13:47There is an expectation from the people that we will stand against the aggression of BJP.
13:54Stand for the rights of the people of J&K. I asked them a simple thing, I told them a simple thing
14:02that we should not, I mean, go against the expectations of people of J&K.
14:07We should stand for them against BJP. We should never, I mean, even think about going with BJP.
14:13The mistake that PDP did in 2014 should be a lesson for everyone.
14:18That took people of J&K to the darkest future one could ever imagine.
14:24We should not repeat that mistake. We should, come what may, we should stand against BJP
14:30and we should respect the expectations of the people of J&K.
14:33Is it a guarantee that national conference tomorrow will not go with BJP?
14:36It's a guarantee. It's a guarantee national conference will not go with BJP.
14:39And if it goes, it will have to face it.
14:42Is it?
14:43Yes.
14:44Ok. Ok, Agha sahab, tell us, what do you think the mainstream has let down people of J&K?
14:49Mainstream has a course correction to do. Mainstream has a lot to learn from many mistakes. I agree.
14:59Do you think your party, national conference, being the oldest political party in J&K
15:04has committed some historical blunders?
15:06Many mistakes, I wouldn't say blunders, many mistakes, yes.
15:09Like many other political parties, this party has also made some mistakes,
15:14willingly or unwillingly, God knows, I don't know.
15:16Because I was not there at that time.
15:18But I can say that there have been mistakes.
15:21But I expect them to learn from the mistakes.
15:25And as far as my journey, I mean, our collective journey, post-abrogation 2019 goes,
15:33I am, I mean, I can confidently say that we are on the right course.
15:37We are learning from the mistakes of the past.
15:39Ok. As Member of Parliament, have you raised this issue of ban on different organisations
15:44like Jamaat-e-Islami, people in jails and all? Have you raised these issues?
15:49I have raised the issue of the men who are in jail.
15:52I met a Home Minister also.
15:54And I tried for it. I'll still continue to try for it.
16:00And we'll struggle for it until we secure the release.
16:03As far as the ban on many other organisations go,
16:06I have not been able to speak in the Parliament about this.
16:09Because I only spoke for, I mean, 5 minutes, 3 minutes and 2 minutes, I guess.
16:17Collectively some 12 minutes, I think, throughout this session.
16:20I didn't get much of the time. So, every issue could not be touched.
16:24There are, I mean, many other chances.
16:26I'll get time to speak and I'll utilise that time to raise many issues.
16:31Ok. Agha Sahib, recently, you know, you apologised to Kashmiri Pandits saying,
16:35Hum sharminda hai.
16:37Who do you think is responsible for their exodus from Kashmir?
16:40Whoever it is, whoever it is, I mean, this society should apologise for the exodus.
16:47There is no justification. There is no justification.
16:50This society should apologise to that minority.
16:54They felt insecure and they had to face that migration.
16:58Now, as far as the responsibility part goes, there are multiple factors which were responsible for this.
17:06The hysteria that was on the ground was one of the factors.
17:11Many, not many, some people from that ideology that was ruling the streets at that moment.
17:19Some people from that ideology helped that hysteria, helped that atmosphere.
17:24And then that was, I mean, capitalised by the administration at that time, the governor at that time.
17:31He used that very wickedly and very cleverly to, I mean, counter the narrative on the streets
17:39and to colour this struggle with the communal thing.
17:44So, everyone from administration to some people on the streets, the atmosphere, everyone was responsible.
17:52The administration, if they wanted to, I mean, help the Pandits and make their presence secure in the valley at their homes, they could have.
18:07Don't you think majority community has suffered in this tumult?
18:11In those statements I carried on, I went on saying that more than Pandits, majority community has also suffered.
18:18Majority community got, I mean, the brunt of that violence.
18:22But that doesn't take us, take away from us the, I mean, responsibility of at least apologising to the community,
18:37those who are in minority and had to migrate from this place.
18:41I am not among those who would use excuses for not, I mean, apologising to them.
18:47We faced the brunt of it. We, majority community faced the brunt of it.
18:52In terms of numbers, the majority community got killed in thousands.
18:58Pandits got killed in hundreds. But that's not an excuse.
19:02That's not the justification. They had to leave this place and we should apologise for them.
19:07And not only apologise for them, the society should work for their return, safe and secure return.
19:12We will, Agha sahab, as an MP and as a senior National Conference leader, work for, you know, to do away with these laws,
19:22Public Safety Act, which your party, you know, pioneer Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah brought.
19:28You know, there are other laws, UAP and all, under which people have been jailed in Kashmir, you know.
19:33Some of the laws will National Conference, you know, Agha sahab will work for this.
19:36Sheikh sahab, when he brought this law, I am told that he had a different intent. And this law itself had a different purpose.
19:44This was against the, I mean, timber smuggling and the illegal activities happening in the forest.
19:51The intention of this law was completely different. This was to, I mean, prevent the timber smuggling.
19:57But as the time went on, this law got used and misused. National Conference is committed,
20:04Omar Abdullah has said it time and again in this campaign also, that if we are chosen, if we are given the mandate,
20:10we will, I mean, we will go, we will do away with this law. PSA will not be there anymore.
20:20But we need to strengthen the assembly. We need to get back the powers for the assembly then, I mean, fulfil these promises.
20:27And if we secure that strength in the assembly and then the assembly gets that power to decide,
20:33you will definitely see a day when PSA will not be there in the law.
20:37Thank you. It was a pleasure talking to you, Agha sahab. Thank you.
20:39Nice talking to you. Thank you.