A spiritual leader with a long political line, NC Gujjar candidate has PDP spooked

When Mian Altaf Ahmad expressed his indecision about contesting from the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary seat over health concerns last month, a perturbed Omar Abdullah rushed over to his home village Babanagri, a spiritual seat of the Gujjars. An hour-long meeting later, Altaf issued a video statement saying he is ready to contest.

It was a moment of great relief for the National Conference (NC), which has found in Altaf, 67, a spiritual leader revered by the Gujjar and Bakerwal community across Jammu and Kashmir. The Anantnag-Rajouri constituency, especially its newly added Rajouri and Poonch parts, has a substantial population of Gujjars and Bakerwals, and the NC has so far failed to create a leader of prominence in the area.

The NC also values a win here due to who is in the other corner – former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti, and the Apni Party’s Zafar Iqbal Manhas. For Mufti, left out of the NC-Congress alliance, it is a battle to retain her political legacy. Manhas, on the other hand, is a leader of the Pahari community, which has been wooed by the BJP with ST status, and is seen as enjoying the BJP’s tacit support.

The People’s Conference, whose leader Sajad Lone is taking on Omar, the NC vice-president, in Baramulla, has officially offered its backing to Manhas.

In his campaign, Altaf has kept Mufti in his sights. “In 2014, a political party (an apparent reference to the PDP) said only they can save Jammu and Kashmir from the BJP. They sought votes on this basis,” he says at a well-attended rally at Ashmuqam in Pahalgam. “Later, that same political party made an alliance with BJP. Today, they are saying only they can resolve (Kashmir’s) issues, but they are the ones who