Omar Abdullah does not mind if Nasir Aslam Wani his strongest own coterie man in his party National Conference shows breach of protocol during field visits of the party delegations in North and Soouth Kashmir district but he does not hesitate to tweet dozens of times if he finds government deviating even an inch from giving official protocol to his incumbent parliament members. Not to talk of Omar Abdullah, even Farooq Abdullah the party president does not take note of the breach of protocol the National Conference Kashmir Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani shows during field visits of party delegations in north and south Kashmir districts . An official party press release of National Conference on visit of a party delegation to fire victims of Baramulla town mentioning that the delegation was led by provincial party president Nasir Aslam Wani and not by Mohammad Akbar Lone the incumbent parliament member is sufficient enough to indicate Wani’s breach of protocol during the visit. Whether it comes to the seniority of leaders in the organisational hierarchy in National Conference or the present official position of the party leaders, the incumbent parliament member from North Kashmir Mohammad Akbar Lone deserved to be named head of the delegation even in the National Conference press release. Again in the case of visit of yet another delegation of National Conference to South Kashmir the party press release mentioned that the delegation was led by Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani and not by incumbent parliament member Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi . Interestingly here again the incumbent parliament member from South Kashmir Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi deserved to be named head of the delegation in the National Conference press release keeping in view his both seniority in public life and as well as his present official position as Member Parliament. Even if the seniority leaders of National Conference in public representation is taken into account, the undisputed reality is that Nasir Aslam Wani is one time legislator and former Minister of State of the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir but Mohammad Akbar Lone is a three time MLA and two time cabinet minister of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state besides holding present position of a Member Parliament and similarly Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi is a former Judge of Jammu & Kashmir High Court besides holding the position of member parliament which he won only after defeating none else than Mehbooba Mufti the former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister by a convincing margin in 2019 parliamentary elections.
If Nasir Aslam Wani is a political liability of National Conference, former minister Nayeem Akhter is a liability of Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) as his actions have led to quitting of the tallest leaders of the party because of whom party had risen to greater heights under the leadership of late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. To restore the pristine glory of grass root level politics in Jammu & Kashmir all the mainstream parties of Jammu & Kashmir particularly National Conference and PDP will have to shut doors for coterie politicians once for ever.
While both Mohammad Akbar Lone and Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi have established their strength in grass root level politics in the recently held DDC elections the National Conference Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani could not reestablish the supremacy of his party in Srinagar district in recent DDC elections. Worth mentioning is the fact that Srinagar district used to be strong bastion of National Conference till 2014 assembly elections. With Wani holding the position of provincial head in the party for last more than five years National Conference badly lost the battle of ballot in recent DDC election even in it’s strongest bastions in Srinagar City. Looking back at the history of National Conference the people in media and civil society would come to the conclusion that coterie politics is the mother of all ills of grass root level politics in Jammu & Kashmir. If Nasir Aslam Wani is a political liability of National Conference, former minister Nayeem Akhter is a liability of Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) as his actions have led to quitting of the tallest leaders of the party because of whom party had risen to greater heights under the leadership of late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. To restore the pristine glory of grass root level politics in Jammu & Kashmir all the mainstream parties of Jammu & Kashmir particularly National Conference and PDP will have to shut doors for coterie politicians once for ever.
