Party questions his parliamentary record on restoration of special status, alleges he remembered 2010 only when politically convenient
Srinagar |Nov, 03: Hours after Srinagar MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi announced his resignation from the National Conference (NC) and the Lok Sabha, the party on Tuesday launched a sharp counterattack, accusing him of political inconsistency and questioning his contribution towards the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
In a strongly worded statement, the NC described Ruhullah’s speech at Budgam as a “manifestation of his mental and moral bankruptcy” and an example of what it termed his self-obsession. The party also criticised his language against the NC leadership, alleging that his address was marked by derogatory and unparliamentary remarks.
“Reclaiming and repossessing what was taken away from us needs deft politics, not theatrics,” the party said, arguing that political mobilisation required a sustained strategy rather than public spectacle.
The statement came after Ruhullah announced the end of his 24-year association with the party at a gathering in Budgam on Tuesday and submitted his resignation as a Lok Sabha member to Speaker Om Birla.
Questioning the timing of his resignation, the NC claimed that Ruhullah had decided to quit only after being asked by the party president. It also accused him of selectively invoking political events and issues to suit his position.
The party referred to Ruhullah’s remarks about the 2010 unrest, pointing out that he had served as a minister in the Omar Abdullah-led government during that period and had continued with the party thereafter.
“He is a man who happily remained in office as a minister in 2010 until he was removed in a general reshuffle. He was happy to fight elections in 2014 on JKNC ticket and didn’t remember 2010 then,” the statement said.
The NC also questioned Ruhullah’s record in Parliament, asking what concrete efforts he had made to mobilise support for the restoration of special status and statehood during his tenure as Srinagar MP.
Referring to the resolution passed by the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on November 6 demanding restoration of special status, the party asked whether Ruhullah had not initially welcomed it as fulfilment of an electoral promise.
The party further questioned whether he had attempted to move a resolution or Bill in Parliament or mobilise support among MPs from different political parties on the issue.
Drawing a comparison with his efforts to gather signatures of more than 100 MPs for an impeachment motion against Allahabad High Court judge Shekhar Kumar Yadav, the NC asked why similar efforts had not been made for restoration of special status or statehood.
The party maintained that Ruhullah had been elected to Parliament to articulate the concerns of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, particularly over what it described as the erosion of democratic authority and the undermining of the elected government’s mandate by the Centre and the Lieutenant Governor’s administration.
It also questioned whether he had raised issues concerning the functioning of departments under the elected government, recruitment controversies, alleged irregularities in examinations and the concerns of open-merit job aspirants.
The statement reiterated that the NC’s demand for restoration of statehood did not come at the cost of special status, asserting that protection of Jammu and Kashmir’s identity and constitutional rights remained central to the party’s political ideology.
“The thrust on restoration of statehood is not and will never be at the expense of the special status,” it said, adding that the party had carefully formulated its political roadmap on issues directly linked to the region’s identity and constitutional position.
The NC also accused Ruhullah of contributing to the party’s defeat in the Budgam Assembly by-election, alleging that he had worked against the organisation while continuing to remain associated with it.
“Where was his conscience then? Backstabbing the same party he owed his political existence to,” the statement said.
The party argued that his resignation had come too late and alleged that he should have left the organisation a year earlier if he had fundamental disagreements with its political direction.
