Srinagar: Dissident National Conference (NC) leader and Lok Sabha member Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi on Friday criticised his party for allegedly abandoning the fight against the amended Waqf Act and the imposition of stanzas of the Vande Mataram national song.
Ruhullah said on X that J&K needed to show greater sensitivity towards the concerns of the minorities.
The dissident NC Lok Sabha member criticised his party for allegedly abandoning the fight against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 and the imposition of stanzas of Vande Mataram, saying Jammu and Kashmir needs to show greater sensitivity to the concerns of minorities.
In his post, Ruhullah said he had opposed the Waqf amendment but later found that his party had “abandoned the fight” and could not even muster the courage to bring a resolution against it in the J&K Legislature.
He said Punjab and some southern states had taken such a step.
Ruhullah also said he had opposed the imposition of stanzas of Vande Mataram, terming it ‘unconstitutional’, but alleged that his party had instead “fallen in line with BJP & RSS in submission”.
“At a time when minorities are being pushed to the wall, let’s not normalise the communal onslaught of the RSS and BJP,” he said, urging people to stand up for the “legitimate concerns” of minorities across India.
Ruhullah said Jammu and Kashmir, being the largest Muslim-majority region in the Union of India, should be more sensitive to religious beliefs and concerns of minorities.
“Jammu & Kashmir has a historical opportunity to stand for what is right. Let’s not squander that chance,” he said, adding that the present circumstances called for statesmanship, sensitivity and courage and not another compromise.
Ruhullah has been sharply criticised by NC leaders, including the party president, Dr Farooq Abdullah, for getting elected to the Lok Sabha as the NC candidate and then acting against the party interests.
Dr Abdullah challenged Ruhullah to resign from the Lok Sabha and then get elected on his own political strength. Ruhullah has announced that he will resign from both the party and the Lok Sabha on November 3, a day when his father was killed by the terrorists in 2000.
(IANS)
