Jammu-Kashmir Election / How Congress is getting weaker in J&K, a big challenge for Rahul?

Jammu-Kashmir Election: Assembly elections are going to be held in Jammu and Kashmir after 10 years. The dates have been announced. Voting will be held in three phases. The results will be declared on October 4. These elections are an opportunity for BJP, Congress, PDP, NC to regain power. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi does not want to let go of this opportunity. He came into active mode only after the announcement of elections. He is on a tour of Kashmir to know the mood of the people. Rahul's effort is to revive the Congress in the valley. To bring the party to the position where it used to be before 1980. Congress used to have absolute rule in the valley then.

The reason for the weakening of Congress in Jammu and Kashmir were its own leaders. There was factionalism in the party in different periods. One camp used to turn a blind eye to the rise of the other camp. What used to happen was that the party would break and this would have an impact on the assembly elections. There have been 19 governments in Jammu and Kashmir since October 27, 1947. Out of these, Congress was a part of 11 governments. The condition of Congress in the state is similar to that in Uttar Pradesh. Just as Congress weakened in Jammu and Kashmir due to the strengthening of PDP-NC, similarly, Congress's base weakened in UP due to the growing support base of SP-BSP.

Factionalism weakened Congress

Factionalism was one of the major reasons for the weakening of Congress in Jammu and Kashmir. Decade after decade, some big leader of Congress decided to separate from the party. Jammu and Kashmir's first Chief Minister Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq used to have a dispute with the party's own leader Syed Mir Qasim. Due to differences between the two, the party got divided into two factions in the 1960s. This feud continued till Mohammad Sadiq's death. Sadiq was the first Chief Minister of the state and Qasim was the party chief in the state.

In 1967, Sadiq appointed his old associate Mufti Mohammad Saeed as Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives. However, Mufti Saeed could not save Sadiq from being removed from the CM post. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Mir Lasjan had told in an interview that it was Mufti Saeed who had hatched the plan. He told that a group of 32 MLAs of Qasim faction had gone to meet the high command to seek permission to bring a no-confidence motion against Sadiq. Lasjan said, Mufti was the first to resign from the post of Deputy Minister. However, Indira Gandhi foiled the plan. Lasjan said, she was asked to reconcile and keep Qasim happy by appointing him minister for public works.

Qasim, who became the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir after Sadiq, holds the party high command responsible for the division of Congress in the state. Qasim wrote in his memoir My Life, My Time that Sadiq and I were known as the proverbial Jonathan and David in Kashmir politics, but Congress used its old conspiracies to make us political rivals and enemies. Congress became the agency that put all the dirt and dust in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir.

Qasim remained the CM of Jammu and Kashmir till February 25, 1975. After the Indira-Sheikh agreement, Sheikh Abdullah became the next Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Indira Gandhi had diminished Qasim's stature through Mufti Sayeed. Sayeed was appointed the head of PCCI in 1975.

Saeed was against the government

After the Indira-Sheikh agreement, Sheikh Abdullah became the head of the House which was dominated by the Congress. On the instructions of Delhi, some Congressmen created space for Sheikh and his allies to contest the elections. This created a crisis in the Congress. Qasim wanted the situation to continue as per the instructions of Delhi. However, Mufti withdrew support. The Qasim faction was with Sheikh Abdullah's government but the Sayeed faction was against the government. Congress had to bear the brunt of this factionalism in the 1977 elections. Out of 76 seats in the assembly, it won 47. Mufti Sayeed himself lost the election in his home.

To ensure that Sheikh Abdullah's government runs smoothly, Mufti Saeed was called to Delhi. He was made a minister in the central government. By the 1980s, three factions had formed in the Congress in Kashmir. According to a report by India Today, the internal strife of the Congress in the Kashmir Valley ended in the PCC meeting on December 15, 1982. In the meeting, the factions of Sadiq, Qasim, Mufti and Ghulam Rasool Kar were discussed in detail.

Sayeed sidelined during Rajiv Gandhi's era

After Indira Gandhi's assassination, Rajiv Gandhi's era came in the Congress. Sayeed was sidelined in the party. Despite Sayeed's opposition, Rajiv Gandhi formed an alliance with the Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference. Rajiv Gandhi made Sayeed a cabinet minister at the Centre. Sayeed was not happy with his expulsion from the state and switched sides when Vishwanath Pratap Singh formed the Jan Morcha in 1989.

After Sayeed's exit from the party, the infighting in the Congress continued during the NC-Congress coalition government led by Farooq Abdullah. The infighting between then Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Mohammad Shafi Qureshi and Ghulam Rasool Kar came out in the open. Former Jammu and Kashmir governor Jagmohan Malhotra writes in his autobiography, My Frozen Turbulences, "The Congress was particularly divided. One faction was led by PCC chief Mohammad Shafi Qureshi and the other by power minister Ghulam Rasool Kar. Relations between the two had soured.

The crisis deepened after 1999

The crisis in the Congress deepened after 1999. Mufti Sayeed had rejoined the Congress in 1996. In 1999, he left the party again and formed the PDP. Before the 2002 assembly elections, the party handed over the reins of Jammu and Kashmir to a trusted lieutenant, Ghulam Nabi Azad. Amid factionalism at the state level, Azad had quietly risen to the central level. In the 2002 assembly elections, the Congress won 20 of the 87 seats. Azad emerged as the choice for the post of Chief Minister. But due to his old ties with the Congress, PDP's Mufti Sayeed sat on the CM's chair. Ghulam Nabi Azad was brought to Delhi by the Congress leadership. He was given the role of general secretary. He left the post of PCC president. His close associate Pirzada Mohammad Sayeed replaced him. Ghulam Nabi Azad was then made the Chief Minister of the state in 2005.

Factionalism did not end

Leaders came and went but factionalism in Congress did not end. Now the dispute between Ghulam Nabi Azad and Saifuddin Soz started. It started when Soz was rewarded by the party. Actually, Professor Saifuddin Soz joined Congress in 2000. Before that, as a National Conference MP, he had toppled the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government by voting against the party whip. Congress gave him a place in the Union Cabinet in 2005 and later made him the president of the party's state unit in February 2008.

Soz was made the President by Sonia Gandhi only after the advice of Ghulam Nabi Azad. Azad was the CM of the state then. However, underestimating Soz proved costly for Azad. The lobbies of Azad and Soz within the party became a cause of public embarrassment for the party. Both sides started attacking each other. The party became disorganized. Its effect was seen in the elections. After 1996, Congress got the least number of seats in the 2014 assembly elections.

Rahul Gandhi faces the same challenge in Kashmir as he faces in UP. Congress was once the strongest party in UP. Congress has had many great leaders in the state. From Govind Vallabh Pant to Sucheta Kriplani, all have held power there. Congress was in power in UP continuously from 1950 to 1967. After this, it had a CM from 1969 to 1970 and from 1970 to 1973.

After this, there was President's rule for a few months. Overall, Congress was in power here till 1989. Yes, in between, Janata Party and Bharatiya Kranti Dal also came to power. But after 1989, Congress was gradually wiped out from here. It has been hoping to capture power here for 35 years.

Just like Congress is trying to stand up again in Kashmir with the help of NC and PDP, similarly it is trying to strengthen its base in UP with the help of SP. It is very difficult for Congress to stand up alone in both these states, because it neither has any big state level leader left in both the states nor is there enthusiasm among the workers. If Congress has to stand up again in Kashmir, then it will have to take the support of PDP and NC. In this union territory, the biggest leader of Congress, Ghulam Nabi Azad, has also left it. That means like UP, it does not have any big face left here too. The party's organization is also not strong here.