NC Srinagar candidate: ‘Those who picked guns had nothing to do with Art 370… For us, Art 270 was the argument against separatists’

Aga Ruhullah Mehdi is the National Conference (NC) candidate from Srinagar, which is expected to be one of the most keenly contested battles in the parliamentary elections in the Union Territory. Mehdi, an influential Shia leader, will take on Waheed Para of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). 

The former minister who served in a government led by Omar Abdullah talks to The Indian Express about his first Lok Sabha contest, Article 370, and what this election means for the people of Kashmir. Excerpts:

I have been expressing my views for a while without the consideration of any election. My concern is the return of dignity and rights that were snatched from us (after Article 370 abrogation).

I wanted for us to mobilise politically and express our dissent … The way people reacted to the farmers’ protests and against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), expressing their opinions and protesting democratically. They did not succumb to the decisions taken by the government.

Electoral politics was not a concern then. I continue to believe that I will not be part of the J&K Assembly. Being part of that Assembly for me is tantamount to legitimising the status of that Assembly. No one had predicted that Assembly elections would be delayed so much. So then, when deliberations for Lok Sabha elections began in the party, they said the sentiment that you express is what all of India needs to hear. For that, this is the forum (Parliament).

People are not just talking about Article 370, they are also emotionally expressing themselves. They have been telling me that this is not an election for roads and development but an election for our identity and rights and that we need to express in a democratic way that we have not surrendered to this