‘Kingmaker’ to ‘non-entity’: Congress's decline in J&K

Once considered as a ‘kingmaker’ in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress party is on decline in Jammu and Kashmir as internal bickering, corruption and other charges on its leaders have marred the prospects of the grand old national party.

In 2002, under the leadership of Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress managed to win 20 out of 87 seats in J&K Assembly and was successful in forming a coalition government with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which had only won 16 seats.

In the 2008 Assembly polls, the Congress again formed an alliance government with the National Conference (NC). In 2014 Assembly elections, though fortunes of the Congress had started to dwindle due to the rise of the BJP, it could still win 12 seats.

However, as soon Ghulam Ahmed Mir was appointed as J&K Congress president in J&K in March 2015, the debacle for the party started. To begin with, senior Congress leaders and former ministers Gulchain Singh Charak, Abdu Gani Vakil and Prem Sagar Aziz revolted openly against Mir and they were later expelled from the party.

Many Congress stalwarts like former minister, Sham Lal Sharma and Usman Majid openly attacked Mir for allegedly promoting non-political people and his involvement in misappropriation of funds in J&KPCC. Sharma, Usman Majid, another former minister Ajaz Khan his brother and former MLA Mamtaz Khan senior leader Vikram Malhotra, Farooq Andrabi and several others left the Congress during Mir’s tenure.

The biggest setback for the Congress and Mir came in 2019 Parliament polls when he lost the election against a political novice of the NC, Hasnain Masoodi from south Kashmir’s Anantnag Lok Sabha seat.

In last year’s district development council (DDC) elections, the Congress was relegated as a non-entity as it couldn't ensure a single chairman in the entire J&K. Even Mir’s son lost the DCC seat from his Dooru assembly constituency, which was a hotbed of Congress not long ago.

A senior Congress leader wishing anonymity said that from the day one there was strong resentment against Mir elevation as party president. “Mir’s involvement in infamous 2006 sex scam, notwithstanding his acquittal by a court, is one of the main reasons for the workers and leaders not to accept him as their president. Kashmir is a conservative society where people are not ready to accept that the court has acquitted him of the charges,” he reasoned.

“From kingmaker, now the Congress has been relegated to number five or six position in J&K. Even parties like Peoples Conference of Sajjad Lone and newly formed Apni Party could manage to have DDC chairmen in two districts each, but Congress couldn’t manage a single district. It clearly shows the strength of the Congress at present,” he rued.