Why Delhi should take MP Ruhullah’s resignation as a loud warning from Kashmir

Staying true to the promise he had made in September, Srinagar MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi resigned from the National Conference and the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

“There are people who cry for the seat of power, but I feel at peace shunning the chair I am holding,” said 48-year-old Ruhullah as he announced his resignation at a massive gathering in Budgam.

Ruhullah’s resignation was preceded by a biting speech that targeted Kashmir’s grand old party, the National Conference, and its two prominent faces, the father-son team of party President Farooq Abdullah and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. With his resignation, Ruhullah – who is also a well-known religious figure – ended his nearly two-and-a-half-decade-long association with the party.

For many in Kashmir, the Shia cleric-politician’s resignation was not unexpected. It followed his growing isolation within the National Conference. He has been a vocal critic of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government’s decision to scrap Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under the Constitution and statehood in August 2019. He has also been vociferous about his party’s refusal to make restoring these two items its primary agenda.

In 2024, in the run-up to the first Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir after it was downgraded to a Union Territory, the...

Read more