Political HANDshake

By Sheikh Imran

JAMMU and Kashmir has always been instrumental in helping political parties in India secure electoral success elsewhere. However unrelated, the ruling party’s or the opposition’s treatment of the ‘Kashmir question’ has allowed them to secure electoral wins across states in India. A case in point is the ruling party at center – the BJP.

Within Jammu and Kashmir, different political parties have tied-up with local political leadership on different occasions for electoral wins here.

As it stands at the moment, the strained and ousted Congress finds itself troubled even more in Kashmir, particularly due to Ghulam Nabi Azad’s exit. Azad’s newly formed DAP and its current tussle with the incumbent Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee Chief and former Azad loyalist Mr. Vikar Rasool Wani is an enigmatic case, potentially capable of not only shaping the destiny of Congress in Jammu and Kashmir but across India.

Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Surprise Exit

A cut-throat competition to succeed the then incumbent Congress Chief, Ghulam Ahmed Mir had ensued in Jammu and Kashmir around that time with several political big-wigs having their eyes fixed on the position. The paranoia of G-23 had doused off to an extent, as Azad, one of the frontrunners of the rebellious group within the Congress had joined the Gandhi siblings in a march in Delhi indicating that the issues of the past were probably buried by both sides. Following that, the appointment of the new Congress Chief in Jammu and Kashmir was on the cards; Ghulam Nabi Azad before leaving the Congress surprisingly had recommended Mr. Vikar Rasool Wani’s name for the post. It was a surprising move given the limited popularity of Vikar who is a leader confined to his constituency and his political experience as compared to the senior leaders in Congress is much less. After the coronation of Mr. Vikar Rasool as the new Chief in Jammu and Kashmir on 16th of August 2022, Ghulam Nabi Azad dropped a bombshell by posting a long resignation letter from Congress after an association of 49 long years on 26th August 2022.

 Vikar Rasool Wani’s Bad Blood with Azad

The moment Ghulam Nabi Azad quit and formed his own party, Congress from Delhi to Jammu and Kashmir has been going all guns blazing against him. Vikar has remained no spectator on the fence to this. He actively jumped in the fray and started attacking Ghulam Nabi Azad for representing the “interest of BJP” in Jammu and Kashmir. Once an Azad prodigy, nowadays attacks Azad on every opportunity he gets, quite recently he even called Azad’s Padma Bhushan award a “small award,” a statement he was forced to withdraw.

In contrast to Vikar’s loud mouthed diatribe, Azad has generally chosen not to speak much about Vikar, which is a probable tactic of him downplaying Vikar. He rarely mentions him but on the sidelines, keeps attacking the Congress in almost all of his programmes he has held ever since he floated his own party.

Recently, Azad, while being interviewed by a national news channel, was seen making explosive claims yet again. Ghulam Nabi Azad told the interviewer that during his time as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, he had compiled a report of ministers working in tandem with insurgents and sent it to the then Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil who, according to Azad, took no note of it. Following this, in a press statement, one of the DAP spokespersons alleged that Vikar was also involved in it besides being involved in corruption; a charge Vikar refuted and warned of an initiation of legal action against Azad and his party. Vikar even went on to the extent of blaming Azad for compromising national security.

The war of words and its escalation beyond verbal spats or a legal tug of war is yet to be seen but it surely is relentless from both sides and doesn’t happen to affect Azad as much as Vikar and his JKPCC.

The Azad factor and Vikar’s Weak Defense

Azad is an accidental politician who has faced humiliating defeats at home state, yet the legend of his capabilities, substantiated by the grace of the central leadership of Congress, keeps going.

Yet, the decision to form his own political party when the sun should’ve set in his political career, leaves him with a tainted legacy — one of a political opportunist who always preferred power instead of politics. Today, he has stationed himself at an uncomfortable position to gain back what he felt was taken away from him owing to his rebellious behavior in the Congress party, and for which he has chosen to walk over the line of ideological demarcations.

This however isn’t much of a challenge or a matter of concern for Azad since there is rarely a mainstream leader in Jammu and Kashmir who has this distinction.

What this brings for Vikar Rasool is, however, a grave concern for Congress. It is an unconquerable duel in which Vikar seems to fail in offering even a fair contest to his rivals. He now has to battle Azad besides BJP, the arch nemesis of Congress, nationally, relying only on his limited popularity, a narrow political understanding and his awry style of working.

Even with estimated or overestimate merits, sidelined allegations and a fair chance, Vikar Rasool is only going to bring congress a morbid defeat in J&k. Since day one, he has sidelined all senior leaders who otherwise used to have a decisive role in the party. He has replaced them with his select “coterie”, in the name of changing the dynamics of his party.

Congress under Vikar Rasool in J&K is set for disaffection, anarchy and total chaos.

The Bumpy Road Ahead for Congress

The political developments in India have forced the principal opposition party, the Indian National Congress, to have a non-Gandhi AICC Chief after over two decades. It has also pushed the Gandhi scion, Rahul Gandhi, to partake in a foot march from Kanyakumari which is to culminate in Kashmir. While it is visibly engaged in an overhaul, its fate cannot be seen in isolation with respect to Kashmir, which is a sensitive spot for average Indian voters. For instance, it’s worth recalling that Congress, in its 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto, had boldly vowed to strengthen Article-370 and Article-35a, whereas BJP had promised their removal. Amongst other promises, this stood out and appealed to the Indian electorate the most, resulting in BJP securing over 300 seats and restricting Congress to 52.

In the current scenario, with a strong BJP, Kashmir and Ladakh will play important roles. Nationally, Congress is trying hard to consolidate and strengthen itself by pulling out different tricks out of its hat but their ignorance and negligent behavior towards Jammu and Kashmir has them sitting on a powder keg which will bemuse them when the match is lit.

AICC selected Vikar Rasool Wani as the JKPCC Chief after Azad recommended his name despite knowing Azad’s friction with the Congress this got approved; the word doing rounds in the political corridors is that the Rajya Sabha M.P and the current AICC, Jammu and Kashmir in-charge Rajani Patil personally lobbied for Vikar. He replaced Ghulam Ahmed Mir who is a fairly more known face. Additionally, Vikar’s thoughtless public speeches, the usage of unparliamentary and objectionable vocabulary, is fairly and squarely earning the BJP some fair points which they will use to their benefit.

Notably, BJP by far, has largely maintained silence on JKPCC Chief Vikar Rasool. Its leadership has a reputation of smartly taking up issues at an appropriate time and then translating them into votes in elections, a tactic often referred to as the “Chanakya Neeti” in the current Indian electoral scope.

Vikar is only going to play right into the narratives that the BJP is going to make against congress. Adding to the war of narrative that BJP has already been winning, it will also eventually turn into a huge wrecking ball bringing down the run of Congress for 2024 general elections besides wiping it out from Jammu and Kashmir. What remains to be seen is whether the AICC in-charge will continue to flatter Vikar despite being fully aware of his splintered house of cards?

Views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of Kashmir Observer

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