The AIP's Kashmiri Pandit Contestant

At Engineer Rashid바카라�s home in Jawahar Nagar in uptown Srinagar, a man sat patiently waiting for him. The man at times shifted his posture, smiling at those who entered the house. Despite Rashid being a Member of Parliament, there was no security, allowing people easy access to his house. But Rashid was not at home; he was busy campaigning after he was released on bail. While others who had come to meet Rashid eventually left, the man kept waiting. 바카라�I won바카라�t leave without meeting Rashid Sahab,바카라� he said.

The man introduced himself. 바카라�My name is Ashok Kumar Raina, and I바카라�m almost 60. I have a degree in law, but I바카라�m not a practicing lawyer. My expertise lies in drafting petitions,바카라� he said.

Raina was born in the Dooru area of Anantnag, where he initially studied in his village before moving to Srinagar for higher education. His father, Gopi Nath Raina, was also a politician associated with the Congress in the 1960s and 1970s.

바카라�I have enjoyed my time in Kashmir,바카라� he said. While talking about life in the 1970s and 1980s, he became nostalgic. 바카라�I don바카라�t think we ever thought about who is a Pandit or a Muslim. We were competing with each other in education and sports.

But his life changed in 1990. Some people came to his house and knocked on the door. 바카라�They were strangers, maybe they had weapons. I was vigilant. We didn바카라�t open the door,바카라� he said. The next day, the family shifted to Jammu. Raina says the migration of his family was a tragic incident, and it deeply impacted him psychologically.

In 1991, Raina returned to Kashmir and started working in the Jammu & Kashmir Bank. One day, a politician from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) approached him, asking him to join the party. Raina left his job in 2008 and contested from the Habba Kadal constituency바카라�considered a Pandit stronghold바카라�on a BSP ticket. In 2019, Raina left the BSP and joined the Congress. He contested and won the panchayat elections in 2019 and became the deputy sarpanch of his village.

Then, on August 5, 2019, Article 370 was abrogated. 바카라�I couldn바카라�t visit my village after the abrogation because several of my colleagues바카라�Ajay Bharati from Tral and Rakesh Pandita from Anantnag바카라�were killed, along with another Muslim friend,바카라� he said.

For Raina, Article 370 holds little significance. 바카라�It was like just another provision in the Constitution, devoid of substance,바카라� he says. Raina believes that if the abrogation could lead to positive changes for Kashmir, then it is worth it. However, he remains deeply concerned about statehood and seeks the restoration of statehood for J&K.

This year, he left the Congress and joined the Rashid바카라�s Awami Ittehad Party (AIP). He was eager to once again fight from the Habba Kadal constituency, but the party had other plans. It asked him to contest from the Chhamb constituency in Jammu, where former Deputy Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Tara Chand is contesting.

바카라�We are not proxies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but we can say that if we gain more seats, the BJP could become a key ally of the AIP. There바카라�s no harm in forming an alliance with them,바카라� he added. He expressed frustration with the distorted interpretations of Article 370 and the misguided discourse labelling the AIP as the A-team, B-team or C-team of the BJP. 바카라�The BJP could become our A1 team if we get more seats in Kashmir,바카라� he said.

(This appeared in the print as 'The Lone Wolf')