[ Raja Muzaffar Bhat is the AAP (Aaam Aadmi Party) candidate against Farooq Abdullah for Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency ]
Dr.Mohamed Ajmal For TwoCircles.net,
Around 14 yrs back I joined college for my MBBS studies at Al Ameen Medical College, Bijapur. I still feel nostalgic remembering those initial days in college, the religious atmosphere at the hostel, the seniors, good and the bad, the new friendships, the ragging, etc.
During those exciting and tumultuous days, I happened to meet Raja Muzaffar Bhat, a Dentist, and my senior by two to three years, there was an aura around him. He was known to be brave and straight forward, loved by many and also feared by some. So I believe it is fairly important for all Indians and especially Muslims to know him better as he is now in public life.
He was always there to help the juniors, not only saving them from ragging, but also ensuring those who exceeded the limits paid the price. At a time when the student body had state wise divisions like – Tamils mingling only with Tamils, Gujaratis with Gujaratis, etc, Muzaffar Bhat was there for all of us who had a need, irrespective of their cultural or religious backgrounds.
As I graduated from the first year, I happened to be his roommate in hostel, where I got to know him as a person and a friend. Sometimes I feel is it a reality that I came across this man by chance…??
I had never known a person so clean by heart, who stood for values he believed in, who stood with the oppressed for justice, unflinchingly even under pressure. He was politically astute with good knowledge of Islam, History and Current affairs.
Standing Up for Justice
“Stood for” can be a very light word, what I mean by it is that he stood for the above, so much so he would give whatever he had, keep his life on the line if required for what he stood for. I remember instances where he differed or fought with his seniors or his classmates, so that justice is done to the juniors, etc. In many instances he would be the only man speaking against a crowd, who held other views, he literally took issues by the horns and dealt with it.
RTI in Kashmir
After graduation, he went back to Kashmir. He started working on issues related to Human Rights Violations in Kashmir, etc but the area where he excelled was RTI (Right to Information Act). He was the one who single handedly run the JKRTI Movement in its initial days, I will not be surprised if he has the highest number of RTI filled in the history of J&K.
Few of the RTI’s were unique, like using RTI for getting information of Missing persons, information on custodial deaths, its circumstances, etc ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOhF2y9M0D8 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbli2a_VFak ). A simple Google search would leads to hundreds of links on the ways he used RTI in getting Justice to the downtrodden and poor who had no other way to fight the system. He was a simple man – who stood up against the J&K System, at a time when people used to fear for repercussions from the State Machinery in various ways.
He was awarded by CNN IBN ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx9NhaKazuY ), Citizen Journalist Show, and his work was appreciated by many more including Wajahat Habibullah, who until recently was Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities.
Politics
I remember his discussion, where he used to lament the limitations of RTI in getting work done, and that he wanted to do more for the public. He joined PDP with a hope to do good for the public. Within few months his work was recognized and there were promises of Assembly Seat, etc for him, but the Hanging of Afzal Guru changed it all.
As a common Kashmiri, he had his anger against the injustice done, I remember him telling – what kind of a state is it which denies a husband to meet his wife before death, nor does it let the son see his father, one last time. Today retrospectively keeping the judgments of killers of Rajiv Gandhi it is very clear the injustice done to him, only because he happened to be a Muslim and a Kashmiri. He left politics, to fight through RTI again.
Aaam Admi Party
His activism introduced him to lot of social activists including Arwind Kejriwal, who had requested him to stand against Farooq Abdullah, on a AAP ticket.
Politics in Kashmir is even complicated, as there are genuine concerns against the state there, because of the sufferings and cruelty suffered by the people for years. The challenge Muzaffar Bhat faces is again to represent the common man of Kashmir, to represent his anger, his resentment, his sufferings, his helplessness, his hope, etc – which are too much of a burden for any single man.
As the famous French philosopher Descrates says “A great theorist is seldom a great leader. An Agitator is more likely to possess these qualities. He will always be a great leader. For leadership means ability to move masses of men. The talents to produce ideas has nothing in common with capacity for leadership.” “But”, he says, “The Union of theorists, organizer and leader in one man, is the rarest phenomenon on this earth; Therein consists greatness.” Muzaffar Bhat is one with such rare combination.
Today as he works hard in campaign, we see a ray of hope of clean people entering politics, a ray of hope for Kashmiris, so that their voice could be better heard through him InshaAllah.
May Allah make him to live up to the expectations of the people and also help him to be successful.
Link:
http://www.muzaffarbhat.com/