Will the National Conference Face the Same Fate as the PDP?

REPORTER STAFF

The sudden increased political activities of the top leadership of National Conference (NC) in Jammu and Kashmir is surprising everyone. After the separation of many veteran leaders, NC President Dr. Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah are giving enough time to the workers from Jammu to the last fringes of Kashmir. This has happened after many years.  Farooq and Umar themselves are leading the way in increasing the activism of the party.

In general, the spurt in the political activities of the NC is being seen in connection with the possible assembly elections in the state in the summer next year. Many people this is mathematics which is also true to some extent, but it is an incomplete truth. Farooq and Umar have shown this activism to save the NC from the fate of the PDP. According to party sources, after August 5, 2019, in the changed political environment in Jammu and Kashmir, the traditional political agenda of NC has now become irrelevant. He has lost his credibility among the common people. Many prominent leaders have differences with the top leadership. Many of its leaders are looking for a new home for themselves.  Farooq and Umar also accept this truth subduedly.

Sources associated with the NC said that Farooq and his close associates believe that the NC’s hearth is being shaken in the changed situation. This has been gauged from the joining of veteran leaders like Devendra Singh Rana and Surjit Singh Salathia in Jammu in the BJP. Sheikh Ishfaq Jabbar, the principal former MLA of Ganderbal district, has distanced himself from party activities. In Ganderbal, DDC chief Nuzhat also left the NC. Former minister Agha Syed Ruhailla is also away from party activities. Hilal Rather, son of former Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, one of the party’s veteran leaders, has gone to the People’s Conference.

Farooq and Umar know very well that if the split starts from the NC, its situation will be worse than that of the PDP. Two or four elderly leaders who are retiring from politics will remain with them in NC. That’s why it is being advised to stay united.

Referring to the current politics of Jammu and Kashmir, senior journalist Asif Qureshi said that if we see the conduct of NC leaders during the last 10 years, now it is surprising. Now the way the NC leadership is taking time out for even the workers, instead of linking it with the upcoming elections, it is better to call it an exercise to keep the party alive. Had the organizational activities remained cold for some more time, many big names of NC from Kashmir would have openly taken the path of Congress, Apni Party or People’s Conference.