Aga Ruhullah Mehdi Ruhullah has criticised his party for its stance on statehood and Article 370 for over a year. (File photo)After months of an ongoing rift with the National Conference, the party’s Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi on Friday challenged the party leadership, stating that in asking for statehood, its position now “is no different from that of the BJP’s.”In his first direct communication to the party president, Ruhullah wrote to Dr Farooq Abdullah and released the letter via social media. On August 25, speaking to reporters in Srinagar, Abdullah had said: “How long will you be a slave? You have to stand on your feet sometimes. When will you stand?”Referring to this statement, Ruhullah said: “I must confess, those words resonated deeply with me. They captured a frustration many of us in Jammu-Kashmir feel: that even while asking for what is rightfully ours, we are expected to assume a posture of supplication before the BJP. May I then, with all the humility I can muster, ask: why should you object when I ask the very same questions?”Taking a swipe at the party’s repeated assertions on demanding restoration of statehood from the Centre, the MP also stated that by accepting statehood as the “outer limit of our political horizon”, they are “legitimising and normalising the constitutional assault of August 2019, while signalling that the BJP’s political settlement for Jammu-Kashmir is acceptable to us.” In doing so, he added: “We also risk surrendering the constitutional protections that are indispensable to our people, given our unique geo-political reality, culture, traditions, and fragile environment”.Ruhullah has criticised his party for its stance on statehood and Article 370 for over a year. The party’s star campaigner in the 2024 J&K Assembly elections, Ruhullah has increasingly been taking independent political positions: in December 2024, just two months after the assembly election, he participated in a protest outside Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s residence alongside students demanding rationalisation of reservation in J&K.In his letter on the party’s position on statehood, Ruhullah said it would have been a fair argument had the BJP not been in power while they were drafting the 2024 election manifesto.Ruhullah also served on the committee that wrote this document.Story continues below this ad“So, why did we include the restoration of Article 370 in our manifesto? Were we making promises we knew we could not keep or perhaps never truly intended to keep? Did we invoke the wound inflicted on the people of Jammu-Kashmir in August 2019 merely to derive political mileage, only to conveniently forget our promises after government formation?” he said in his letter on Friday.Addressing concerns around resignation, he accused Abdullah of making a “rather disrespectful attack” while seeking his resignation.“Rest assured, the resignation will come. It would have come even without you asking but before that must come accountability,” Ruhullah said.Sources have told The Indian Express that the MP could resign in November after completing formalities around a conference of MPs that he is organising on October 31.Story continues below this adThe letter comes days after National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah publicly challenged Ruhullah to seek a fresh mandate without the National Conference amid the growing rift between him and his son, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.“Could Ruhullah sahib have ever won without the National Conference? I tell him, resign, resign from Parliament and go back to the people. We would see who will vote for him. Everything will come before you,” the senior Abdullah had said.The rift between Ruhullah and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has steadily grown over the last few months, especially given the Srinagar MP’s increasingly independent political positions and growing criticism of the NC government. Ruhullah, who’s not been part of the NC’s internal meetings for months, has accused the party of backtracking on promises made to the people during the elections and abandoning the fight for Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutional rights taken away on August 5, 2019.Naveed Iqbal is a Senior Assistant Editor at The Indian Express, and reports from Jammu and Kashmir. With a career spanning over 15 years in frontline journalism, Naveed provides authoritative reporting on the region’s transition, governance, and the socio-political implications of national policies. Expertise Regional Specialization: Based in the Srinagar and New Delhi bureaus, Naveed has spent over a decade documenting the unique challenges of Jammu and Kashmir. Her reporting is distinguished by deep contextual knowledge of the region's post-Article 370, statehood debates, and local electoral politics. Key Coverage Beats: Her extensive body of work covers: Politics & Governance: Tracking the National Conference (NC), PDP, and BJP dynamics, including in-depth coverage of J&K’s first Assembly sessions and Rajya Sabha polls following the reorganization of the state. Internal Security & Justice: Providing rigorous reporting on counter-insurgency operations, terror module investigations, and judicial developments involving political detainees and constitutional rights. Education & Minority Affairs: Highlighting systemic issues such as quota rows in J&K, public service commission reforms, and the challenges faced by minority communities. ... Read More