By Dabeerah Hassan
Budgam- As assembly elections approach, Budgam has emerged as the center of a unique and intriguing political contest.
Three members of the influential Aga family are competing for the same assembly seat, each representing a different political party.
Aga Syed Mehmood, a senior politician with the National Conference; Aga Syed Muntazir, a new member of the Peoples Democratic Party; and Aga Syed Ahmad, representing the Awami National Conference (ANC), are all vying for the Budgam seat.
Many members of the Aga family, which enjoys a considerable clout among a section of Shia community, have been affiliated with almost all political parties from both separatist and mainstream camp for decades but never have they been pitted against each other as it looks certain now in Budgam Assembly segment.
Followers of the family now face the challenge of choosing between three candidates from the same clan, each with distinct party affiliations and political platforms but all claiming to be part of Anjuman-e-Sharie Shiyan founded by family patriarch late Agha Syed Yusuf.
This situation has also sparked internal bickering within the Aga family. In a statement to the Kashmir Observer, son of a family elder who is also an influential cleric voiced strong opposition to the current scenario, saying, “I, as a member of this family, strongly oppose this shift. A single representative, if chosen wisely, might have been sufficient to uphold our values in the political arena. However, the current trend seems more about personal ambition than serving the community. This not only tarnishes our family’s reputation but also undermines the sacrifices of those who came before us. It is a reminder that we must realign our actions with our true heritage of service and faith rather than be swayed by the lure of power.”
A Budgam resident Sajad Hussain stated, “It’s unfortunate the way things are developing. Two stalwarts of the family, Aga Mahmood and Aga Ruhullah, have for the past ten years consistently worked together for unity, irrespective of their differences, and have brought the estranged party cadres together. Now we are witnessing an attempt to spread discord merely for personal, meager gains.”
Dr Jaleel Mehdi, a scholar from Budgam, commented, “This is not surprising at all. This is the nature of dynastic politics. In dynastic politics, people are extremely sensitive to even the modest changes in the relative balance of power among themselves. This has not happened for the first time. Maybe the public is dumbfounded by the scale and the extent of the competition this time, but this has happened even before. I mean there are members of this family who have vigorously competed both for political power and for religious authority before. And that is why the family has created numerous petty divisions and those fault lines and cleavages are bound to escalate.
We have seen explicit and sometimes unpleasant political competitions between Agha Syed Mahmood and Late Agha Syed Mehdi for a long time and now we see the realignment of those political forces where you have three odd people competing with each other. On the face of it we are only seeing three candidates, but if you look deeper these are reflective of the deeper cleavages and fault lines in the family. And this is not only with this family alone, this is true for all the dynasties engaged in dynastic politics. Unfortunately, they are destined to fragment invariably, thereby creating and recreating unhealthy schism in the constituent populations, he added.
“It’s neither about the election nor about an individual or the family; it’s about a society that refuses to mature. A progressive society requires collective responsibility to lead from darkness to light,” another Budgam resident, wishing anonymity, said.
The emergence of multiple family members as candidates for the same seat adds complexity to the election, potentially influencing voter sentiment and political dynamics in Budgam.
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