Zaid Bin Shabir, TwoCircles.net
Srinagar: On March 8, 2020, more than seven months after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government abrogated Jammu & Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 and reclassified the state as a Union Territory (UT), most of Kashmir’s leadership remained in detention. The exception was a few who launched a new political front, the Jammu & Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP).
The party, purportedly founded allegedly with BJP’s patronage, was led by former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Altaf Bukhari. Bulk of the JKAP’s top leadership is PDP defectors, including Zaffar Iqbal Manhas.
“Apni Party was founded to end the silence of Kashmir that followed after August 5 (2019),” he told TwoCircles.net. A former member of the Legislative Council (MLC) and prominent Pahari leader, Manhas became JKAP’s candidate for the recently held Lok Sabha elections for the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary seat but lost.
However, just three months after his defeat and only a week after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the first assembly polls for the J&K UT, Manhas resigned from the JKAP on August 21.
“(Elections) are now only about survival,” he said, adding, “A temporary address might seem appealing for a short time, but it can never be called a home.”
Political Exodus
As legislative assembly polls return to Jammu and Kashmir after a decade of turmoil, a new wave of chief ministerial hopefuls are grappling with their fading prospects.
Parties that emerged from mass defections in Kashmir’s principal parties — Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — are now losing both elite memberships and key electoral strategists. For instance, Bukhari’s JKAP had largely been labeled as the “BJP’s B-team” during its political existence.
Bukhari’s group initially supported the Centre on August 5, 2019 decision and avoided controversies, unlike the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), a coalition of Kashmiri political parties that opposed the decision.
Now, with the election season upon them, the JKAP is disintegrating. Besides Manhas, party’s Vice President Usman Majeed and five other top leaders have quit. The sudden shift remains puzzling but is often attributed to the party’s lacklustre performance in the parliamentary polls.
“The JKAP is like a tree in a pot — it has no roots,” commented a former leader, who wished to remain anonymous. “It is like a Muslim version of the BJP. How can Kashmiris accept it? With it, I was losing my relevance in valley politics, so I had to leave because Kashmiris never forget and forgive.”
The JKAP is not the only political group in Kashmir experiencing defections. One notable shift was by former trade leader Khursheed Alam, who joined Jammu & Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) chief Sajjad Lone, who has referred to Prime Minister Modi as his “elder brother”. Alam, a former PDP leader, had significant influence in the valley’s urban areas. In 2014, he nearly unseated NC veteran Ali Mohammad Sagar from the crucial Khanyar assembly seat. However, after 2019, Alam left the beleaguered PDP and joined Lone.
Alam’s inclusion was seen as a boost for the Peoples Conference leader, whose influence was largely confined to North Kashmir. Despite this, Alam’s performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls was underwhelming.
“We could not sell the product of the Peoples Conference to the public,” said former leader Khursheed Alam. “When a politician, eyeing a mandate, has no acceptance among his own people, it’s better to call it a day.”
Last month, Alam resigned from the JKPC and rejoined the PDP, believing that new political parties are faltering because “a party should have a resolution to bring about change”.
‘Anti-New Delhi is Pro-Kashmir’
When former J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad ended his five-decade-long association with the Congress and formed the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) in 2022, he portrayed his political outfit as an alternative to established regional parties like the NC and the PDP, promising to fight for statehood and jobs. These were promises previously made by the Centre or senior BJP leaders. Ultimately, Azad’s party ended up being perceived as a ‘pro-Center’ and ‘anti-Kashmir’ force in the valley. Consequently, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, all three DPAP candidates lost, including their security deposits.
Since then, the DPAP has faced numerous defections and appears to have lost the initial enthusiasm it had when it first entered J&K’s political landscape.
“The stain (of working against Kashmiris) will never leave the DPAP,” said former Minister Taj Mohiduddin, a founding member of the party who recently resigned. “The DPAP was rejected by the people, and I no longer wanted to be a part of it. These newly mushroomed parties have no future in Kashmir.”
Political pundits in the Valley argue that the rising defections and the waning morale of these parties stem primarily from their loss of New Delhi’s backing.
“The theme of this election is clear: a political party that is anti-Center is pro-Kashmir,” said a Kashmir-based political expert, who wished not to be named. “These parties — the JKAP, the JKPC and the DPAP — were never intended to be long-term solutions for New Delhi. They were only promoted to establish opposition to the NC and the PDP to fulfill BJP’s desire for a Hindu chief minister in J&K.”
The expert believes that the Lok Sabha elections revealed the limitations of these parties, leading to their isolation. “The patrons of these parties might lose their respective seats in the assembly election,” he said. “Why would any leader choose to remain in such camps?”
Another common factor contributing to the disintegration of these political fronts is their poor poll performance, weak public connection and political irrelevance.
‘Can’t Undermine NC’
The return of “Delhi’s carrot-and-stick” policy, traditionally associated with the region’s grand old party, the J&K National Conference, is also seen as a shift in investment for the new political parties in Kashmir. Analysts believe that despite the recently announced JKNC-Congress coalition for the upcoming assembly polls in J&K, the much-criticised dynastic party has reasserted its importance in the region. With BJP proxies underperforming, the JKNC emerged as a major party in the recent Lok Sabha polls. Its widespread presence across J&K is leaving little room for new political entities.
The political analyst noted that the BJP has realized it cannot undermine the NC in Kashmir’s politics. In fact, a senior PDP leader regards the NC as the frontrunner in the upcoming polls. “The NC aligns with New Delhi’s interests the most,” the PDP leader, who wished to remain unidentified, told TwoCircles.net. “Why would the Centre invest in parties that lack legitimacy in Kashmir rather than supporting the NC?”
(Zaid Bin Shabir is a journalist based in Jammu & Kashmir)