HT interview: J&K polls may throw a hung House, says Sajad Lone

A key political player in north Kashmir, Sajjad Lone’s Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference is contesting 22 seats in the Jammu & Kashmir assembly elections. First to switch from the separatist spectrum to electoral politics in 2014, a former minister in the last coalition government of the Peoples Democratic Party and the BJP, the 57-year-old Lone spoke to Hindustan Times on election dynamics, the banned Jamaat-e-Islami’s entry into the poll arena, and his party’s manifesto ahead of the first phase of polling on September 18. Edited excerpts:

How do you look at the current electoral landscape in Jammu & Kashmir?

It is more participative than ever before, like in the rest of the country. The democratic space has opened up in Kashmir. The entry of small parties and Independents backed by the banned Jamaat-e-Islami has injected new dynamics that is not easy to predict for now. The National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may think that the election scene is crowded, but I see it as good for a flourishing democracy. Initially, the NC seemed to have an advantage and looked set to touch about 40 seats (out of 90). But they have lost that edge in the past one week. The odds are against the PDP in its bastion of south Kashmir with the Jamaat backing its own candidates.

Who will the Jamaat’s electoral outing hurt more?

The Jamaat boycotted all elections since 1996. After the PDP was formed in 2000 as a major Kashmir-based challenger to the NC’s dominance, it has been a beneficiary of the Jamaat’s indirect support. In the last assembly elections in 2014, the PDP got most of its 28 seats from south Kashmir, the Jamaat’s stronghold. So, the PDP has reasons to be worried this time.

You were the first to step out of the separatist fold and join electoral politics in 2014. How do you see Jamaat’s turnaround from its boycott stand?

For that, I alone suffered the abuses for 10 years. Now the Jamaat will share that with me (laughs). On a serious note, it has been facing tremendous heat since the ban after the 2019 events (abrogation of Article 370). It was virtually crushed. Now, there is a resigned acceptance in the Jamaat about mainstream politics. It had stigmatised elections and now it has to sanctify it. In public perception, the Jamaat is seen as a sufferer and is more acceptable than it was in the 1990s.

But both the NC and PDP are alleging that independent candidates are BJP proxies?

There is nothing unusual about that. Whenever a separatist or a surviving victim of government repression enters the mainstream, he is branded as a collaborator or a stooge. I was the first to labelled Delhi’s stooge when I left separatism and joined electoral politics. The Jamaat has a history of sacrifices in Kashmir. It has 4,000 graves of members all over. More than 2,000 of them were killed when the NC was ruling here. More than 10,000 Jamaatis have spent time in jails – many of them are still incarcerated. First, my father and later I have been in the same jail with them. Yet, Omar (Abdullah) has the audacity and sense of entitlement to call them proxies. I have no love lost for the Jamaat because ideologically we are poles apart. They voted against me with full vigour in the last elections. But when it comes to the victim-victim narrative, my heart beats for them. Just see the massive response their first political rally in three decades got in Kulgam last week. I sense there are still some fetters on the Jamaat and it has not been allowed to contest from all seats. Had they contested all seats, they could have sprung a surprise and the PDP would have been decimated.

Is Article 370 an election issue?

The Kashmiris know it will never come back. But there is surely a groundswell of anger over its abrogation. The Valley had exercised a protest vote against the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections three months ago.

What is your sense of the voters’ mood in Kashmir?

There is still a lot of silent alienation. It is difficult to predict how it will manifest in the elections. Look at how a jailed Engineer Rashid defeated Omar and me in Baramulla. It tells you something about the mood in favour of those perceived as victims. A new trend that I saw in the last Lok Sabha elections is that the Kashmiri women voters are making their own choices, independent of their families.

What are the chances of the repeat of the Engineer Rashid phenomenon?

His Lok Sabha victory was a flash in the pan. Pretty much like the 1977 Janata Party wave that came once and never returned.

What are the key points in your manifesto?

We are seeking a judicial probe into the 1987 elections, which was the starting point in J&K’s descent into militancy and turmoil, and the release of political prisoners who didn’t take up the gun. I am a development man who is accessible. I am seeking votes for development works I did as a minister for two-and-a-half years. These include a medical college in Handwara, bio-technology park, railway link in north Kashmir, Bungas road to Kupwara and an upgrade in power transformers.

What is your prediction on the poll outcome?

As on date, I will bet on a hung House.