Rekha Chowdhary
After the abrogation of the special constitutional status and reorganisation of the state of J&K, political parties here have been going through lot of churning. In the context of changed political environment, the political class in both Jammu and Kashmir regions has been reassessing the role and relevance of political parties and seeking to shift their loyalties away from the parties which they assess to have lost some value and relocate themselves in those parties that are seen to be having better future prospects. It is in this situation that we see a phenomenon of extensive cross-party movement since August 2019. So massive has been this phenomenon that this has had far-reaching consequences for almost all the political parties. While some parties have been benefitted, there are others which have been adversely impacted. Some parties have been so severely impacted that these have come to face existential crisis. People’s Democratic Party which had emerged quite strong after the 2014 Assembly election is one such party that has been under tremendous pressure due to the cross-party movement. Panthers Party is another party, which has been severely impacted.
Election Watch
While the trickling out of parties like the PDP had started right after 2018 when BJP withdrew its support from Mehbooba’s government, but the major movement out of this party started in 2020 with the formation of Apni Party. It was a newly formed party but it had very familiar faces – many of them from PDP, but also from Congress and NC. Altaf Bukhari, the main organiser and the Chief of the party had served as finance minister in Mehbooba Mufti’s government (later expelled). Many others were former legislators and prominent members of the party. With so many of these PDP leaders joining the Apni party, a news report commented that the launch function of the new party seemed like the launch of a ‘sister affiliate’ of PDP.
PDP’s debacle that started with the formation of Apni Party, continued for the next couple of years. It was exodus-like situation with many leaders including the very senior ones leaving the party. It is estimated that after August 5, 2019, at least 40 of the key members of the party left it. Many of these included those who had held ministerial positions and many others who were its former MLAs. As reported, 20 of its 28 legislators left the party. So much the party was affected by the exodus of its members that questions started being raised about its political relevance. The party was emptied out of its senior leadership. It was not only that some of the founding members of the party (including Muzaffar Baig who was the patron of the PDP and ex Dy CM) were no more part of it but most of the PDP ministers in Mehbooba ministry were out of it – not only Altaf Bukhari, but also Haseeb Drabu, Imran Raza Ansari, Choudhari Zulfikar Ali, Syed Busharat Bukhari, Javed Mustafa Mir.
The phenomenon of cross-party movement was normalised with the election of District Development Councils (DDC). Many party leaders belonging to PDP, NC and Congress shifted sides either before the election or after the election. The beneficiaries were the BJP, Apni Party and the People’s Conference.
In Jammu the movement was mainly towards the BJP, in Kashmir, it was towards the People’ Conference (or Apni Party). With BJP being the ruling party in the Centre and the dominant party of Jammu region, the political future of this party was seen to be quite bright. Hence, the party has been receiving members from all parties. Even before August 2019, senior Congress leaders like Sham Lal Sharma had joined BJP, but after reorganisation, this process was accelerated in multiplied form.
In Kashmir, the People’s Conference was the preferred party for shifting. Seen closer to the BJP and Central government, the prospects of this party increased after it left the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) in early 2021. Among the high profile former PDP leaders who joined the People’s Conference included Muzaffar Baig, Basharat Bukhari (a minister in PDP government), Nizamuddin Bhat (veteran political leaders) and Khurshid Alam and Peerszada Mansoor (former MLAs)
The movement towards People’s Conference was not restricted to PDP leaders only, many of the NC leaders especially at the middle level shifted. Off and on one would hear about NC workers joining the People’s Conference in dozens, not only in northern Kashmir, the stronghold of People’s Conference ,but also in central Kashmir.
Unlike the PDP which was severely impacted by the cross-party movement, the NC had survived the onslaught in Kashmir. But it faced a major blow in Jammu region as its provincial president Devender Singh Rana and its significant face in the region S S Slathia left it to join BJP. These desertions virtually created a political vacuum for the party in Jammu region. It was because of these leaders that the NC had a political presence in the predominantly Hindu belt of the region, but with them shifting sides, the hold of the BJP in this belt became almost complete.
This is all the more true as the Congress party, the only party that could have given any competition to BJP in Jammu region, faced its own debacle. Its most prominent leader Ghulam Nabi Azad chose to come out of the party and form his own party. Congress with Azad at the helm of affairs had a reasonable chance to give a dignified competition to the BJP, but with the two going in two different direction, prospects for both Congress as well as Azad were diminished. Ironically, Azad had to have his own taste of desertions as a number of senior leaders who had come along with him from Congress, decided to move back to Congress only two months after the formation of Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP).
This chaotic story of political leaders moving from one party to other in search of better prospects would not be complete without reference to the sudden rise and fall of the Aam Aadmi party in J&K, particularly in Jammu region. It was a bubble-like development in the wake of this party’s victory in Punjab. At that point of time, the party created such a buzz that anybody and everybody started taking a flight or train trip to Delhi to join the Aam Aadmi Party. So much so that not only younger leaders belonging to NC and Congress sought to be part of the party but whole of Panthers Party’s leadership vied with each other to be admitted to this party. With so much enthusiasm towards the party, the political analyst started predicting its bright prospects in the region. But one could see the loss of these prospects as those who had joined the party started coming out of it and joining different parties. (Leaders like Yashpal Kundal and T S Tony joined Congress, Mankotia joined BJP and Harshdev Singh revived Panthers party).
In this whole saga, the story of Panthers party – the only regional party of Jammu region, has its own story of not only having lost its mentor Bhim Singh but also losing its core of leadership. This story deserves an independent column.
Tailpiece – Cross-party movement continues to make news. In last few days, we got the news of reverse movement of Muzaffar Baig and his wife Safina Baig – from People’s Conference to PDP. At the time of writing this pieces I am reading the news about jolt to NC as several of its leaders have joined the BJP in Jammu region.
(Feedback welcome at rekchowdhary@gmail.com)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
