‎Will break chains around me on Nov 3: Agha Ruhullah

‎Srinagar, Sep 12: Srinagar MP Agha Ruhullah Mehdi on Saturday described November 3 as the point when he would “break those chains” and “free” himself, in his clearest indication yet of a political break from the present National Conference leadership and of a possible new political course after that date.
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‎“First let me free myself from some chains on 3rd November. I will break those chains, I will free myself, I will cut the rope,” Ruhullah told reporters at Ganderbal.
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‎He stopped short of announcing a new political party, saying that decision would be taken collectively after discussions with people across J&K.
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‎“Whether to make a party or not, what to do, it will be a collective decision, with the people of the whole of Jammu and Kashmir, sitting together, and especially with the youths,” he said.
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‎Ruhullah also offered a pointed criticism of the NC’s decision to have the Chief Minister from the Abdullah family, saying the party had the option of choosing someone else after the 2024 Assembly elections.
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‎“If they wanted, they could have done a leadership role, they could have made a Chief Minister outside the family, they could have made someone else,” he said, as per Kashmir News Service (KNS).
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‎He followed it with a pointed remark on the Chief Minister’s post: “Chief Minister is a temptation, we could not resist that temptation.”
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‎The remarks came as Ruhullah questioned the party’s approach to leadership and its decision to change positions on issues on which, he said, it had earlier taken a principled stand.
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‎“Leadership is the name of principle stand. Leadership is the name of conviction,” he said.
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‎Ruhullah said he was a first-hand witness to the developments within the party and claimed there had been no major pressure from the party to change its position.
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‎“Till they did not have their own wish, they did not have their own need, they named that need as pressure, and they took that decision,” he said.
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‎He also responded to remarks by NC MP Mian Altaf Ahmad about the government’s functioning, saying he did not want to interpret Altaf’s words.
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‎“I respect him. He should interpret his own words,” Ruhullah said, adding that Altaf should explain himself if he had any complaint against the government.
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‎He also referred to NC president Farooq Abdullah’s challenge to him, saying he would respond politically at the appropriate time.
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‎“God willing, it is being arranged. We will play this match politically, in the coming time,” he said.
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‎Ruhullah, however, asked that his political differences not overshadow the issue that had brought him to the protest site—the demand of veterinary students for an increase in their stipend.
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‎He asked the Agriculture Minister to meet the students and said he would wait for a day or two for the department or higher authorities to engage with them. If that did not happen, he said, he would involve more people and amplify the issue.
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‎He questioned the Rs 6,000 stipend being paid to the students, saying those who had spent years studying should not be expected to work for such an amount.
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‎“If other states can get more than Rs 20,000 in stipends, I don’t think there is such a shortage in our state,” he said.
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‎Ruhullah also raised the issues of medical interns and reservation, saying an elected government should listen to the people who elected it.
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‎“When an elected government, which we have elected, behaves worse than the LG’s administration… then the concept of democracy and accountability fails,” he said, as per KNS.
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‎On reservation, he urged the government to meet students before they were forced back onto the streets and explain the status of their file.
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‎He said the veterinary students’ issue should be resolved through dialogue and urged the Agriculture Minister to meet them.(KNS)
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