Cadres Keep Kashmir's National Conference Relevant

Every day, Chaudhary Mohammad Han­ief, 70, leaves his house, located up in the hills of Dadkai village, at 9 am sharp. He walks down 2 km to reach the road and then walks another 5 km to reach Gandoh sub-district of Chenab valley. Throughout the day, he visits different offices with applications, complaints and demands of local villagers.

Hanief has been with the National Conference (NC) since his childhood. His father Mir Ali was with the NC when the party had launched the All Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front, after Sheikh Moh­a­mmad Abdullah바카라�s arrest on August 9, 1953, in the Kashmir conspiracy case.

Sitting in his house, Hanief talks about his long association with the NC. 바카라�We바카라�ve been with NC all our lives. My father didn바카라�t leave the party. I beli­eve the vision of the party is supreme, irrespect­ive of the actions of its party leaders,바카라� he adds.

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He says during Sheikh바카라�s time, the party was immensely popular in his area due to its 바카라�land to the tiller바카라� reforms, and for decades its influence rem­ained strong in the Chenab valley, as in other districts of Jammu and Kashmir. However, he is also a witness to the waning influence of the NC in the region and holds the party responsible for it.  

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has a deep influence in the area covering Dadkai, Gandoh and Soti in district Doda. Azad is revered here for his developmental work, carried out after he became CM of the state in 2005.  Over the years, most political leaders and workers of different parties have switched loyalties to join the Cong­ress, but Hanief has continued with the NC.

But Hanief says these days, youngsters refuse to join the NC, as the party appears to have adopted a top-down approach to leadership. Today, party workers constitute mostly those people who had some residual affiliation with the party from She­ikh Abdullah바카라�s time. 바카라�The youngsters see better prospects in other parties. One of the reasons for this is that my party gives more weightage to former bureaucrats who join the party, than grassr­o­ots workers,바카라� he adds. 바카라�I don바카라�t feel the NC would win any seat in the Chenab valley, if this trend continues,바카라� he adds.

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Hanief has never been to the party headquart­ers at Nawai Subh in Srinagar, where many young NC leaders seem to share his view. Most of these young leaders also happen to be related to senior NC leaders who had once risen up the ranks wit­hin the party.

While Hanief is in favour of reforms within the party바카라�calling for propping up of grassroots leaders바카라�the young NC leaders at the party headquarters appear stuck in a time warp of the Sheikh바카라�s 바카라�land to the tiller바카라� reforms. On October 17, 1950, the then PM of J&K, Sheikh Abdullah, had decl­a­red a policy of liquidating big landed estates and transferring land to the tiller by enacting the Big Landed Estates Abolition Act. A cen­tury of Dogra rule had seen usurpation of nea­rly all land in the Valley by the ruling class, as most of the 22 lakh acres of cultivable land in Kashmir legally belon­ged to either the Maharaja, his jagirdars or a sma­ll coterie of landlords called chakdars.

According to Sheikh바카라�s biographer Muhammad Yousuf Taing, till the 바카라�land to the tiller바카라� law of 1950 came into force, even daughters of poor pea­sants were treated as part of the estate on whi­ch the landlords enjoyed absolute rights. The sweeping land reforms of 1950 changed the complexion of Kashmiri society, releasing around 160,000 acres of land from landlords in Kashmir and 310,000 acres in Jammu, empowering 87 per cent of people of the state.

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While the reforms brought die-hard cadres like Hanief바카라�s father into the party, the new generation has different aspirations, and the party바카라�s current leaders are aware of that. They say after abrogat­ion of Article 370, many political leaders kept jumping from one party to another, but this did not happen in the NC as it is cadre­-­driven.

For Salman Sagar, the party바카라�s youth president, NC was running on the sentiment of people throughout Jammu and Kashmir up until the 1990s, when militancy erupted in the region. According to him, in the past few decades, the sentiment바카라�especially in the Valley바카라�switched toward separatist politics, as a large section of youths started identifying with it. In Jammu too, he says, there has been a drift toward other parties.

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He adds though that after the abrogation of Art­icle 370, there is a sea change in people바카라�s behavi­our, with expectations from the party again rising across Jammu and Kashmir. 바카라�Many youngsters are joining the party. We don바카라�t say the coming electi­ons are about development, or that we바카라�ll pro­vide drainage and other facilities once in pow­er. These are duties of any government, and we바카라�ll do that. But we will fight elections on an ideological plank. We바카라�ll say loudly that we바카라�ll strive for the restoration of Article 370 and preservation of Jam­mu and Kashmir바카라�s unique identity, which resonates with what people here aspire for.바카라�

바카라�You don바카라�t give up your ideological goals so easily. It took BJP 70 years to abrogate Article 370. It might take us seven years to see its restoration. That doesn바카라�t mean we should give up,바카라� he adds.  

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Dr Sajad Uri, whose father Mohammad Shafi Uri was a minister in Farooq Abdullah바카라�s cabinet, is one of the party바카라�s young leaders from Uri tehsil of Bar­a­mulla, around 100 km from Srinagar. The party, he says, is like any other cadre-based party like CPI(M) and CPI. 바카라�Since its foundation, when the party changed its name from Muslim Conference to National Conference and fought against Maha­raja Hari Singh바카라�s autocratic rule, the party has played a major role in changing the lives of people바카라�. 바카라�I have seen workers who haven바카라�t got anything from the party. But they realise that the party바카라�s existence is vital for Kashmir,바카라� he adds. He says when militancy erupted in the Valley, a large number of NC workers were killed to destroy the party, but when elections were held in 1996, it was the dedicated party cadre who came out to vote risking their lives. 바카라�And in 2000, the party respected their sentiment and passed a resolution in the assembly for the restoration of autonomy,바카라� he adds.

바카라�Despite difficulties, we바카라�re working hard to inc­rease our membership beyond the traditional cadre,바카라� says NC's state spokesman Imran Nabi Dar. His father Ghulam Nabi Dar was a party MLA in 1983, who was assassinated in a militant attack in 2006.

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바카라�I think one of the biggest contributions of the NC is the 바카라�land to the tiller바카라�. The older cadre und­erstand its importance,바카라� he says, adding they have seen the benefits of these reforms directly. He says the younger generation is starting to realise this too.

Abid Wani, 29, a software engineer who joined the party in 2019 from the Khanyar constitue­ncy of Srinagar at Sagar바카라�s behest, says that before the abrogation of Article 370, Kashmiri nationalism co-existed in the minds of Kash­miris alongside Indian nationalism. 바카라�The abrogation was an attempt to destroy the idea of Kash­miri nationalism, but the NC will continue to fight for it,바카라� he adds.

While 바카라�ideological reasons바카라� dominate conversations among the party바카라�s young leaders, for Hanief, being an NC cadre is a way to reach out to the people. 바카라�Land reforms are fine, but we have different challenges today. I cannot afford to sit at home. I have to reach out to the people,바카라� the dedicated NC cadre concludes.

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