Aasha Khosa/New Delhi

In the summer of 2008, the Kashmir and Jammu regions of J&K State were on fire with two parallel and clashing agitations. In the Valley, big marches were being taken out in protest against a plan to allocate forest land for the Amarnath pilgrimage and Jammu was witnessing an unprecedented agitation in retaliation to this.

Behind the News

At that time, an all-party Parliamentarians’ delegation came to Jammu to hold negotiations with the protesters. The visitors were ushered into a room full of angry faces for the meeting. One of the organizers announced, “All the Kashmiri leaders must leave the meeting; it’s about the Jammu people.” 

Farooq Abdullah held the hand of Ghulam Nabi Azad, who had just resigned after the coalition partner- PDP- had withdrawn its support to his government – for walking out.“Azad sahib, app bathiye; aap to Jammu sein hein.” (Mr Azad, you be seated; you are from Jammu), Came the announcement and Azad retracted his steps.

This is Azad’s public image in his native State (now a union territory); people in Kashmir and Jammu look up to him as a leader who empathizes and identifies with both Kashmiris and Jammu people in contrast with the others’ leanings toward one or the other sub-regional identities for political gain.

Therefore, his advent on the political scene at a time when the UT is about to have its first Assembly election after the abrogation of its special status has ramifications.

It’s no secret that Azad enjoys good equation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Does he also endorse the politics of the BJP? It’s unclear for now but he surely is a leader who fits the image of an Indian Muslim in the pantheon of 'good Indians' of Narendra Modi’s BJP and the government. He refuses to be identified with one particular sub-cultures of the J&K and his politics is above the usual Jammu versus Kashmir rhetoric of most leaders during the campaigning.

Azad has a unique position in J&K’s sensitive politics. He hails from the Jammu region’s Doda district; his wife, a famous Kashmiri singer Shameema Dev Azad, is from Kashmir. As a local student leader, he was picked by the then firebrand Congress leader Sanjay Gandhi and brought to Delhi.

He was close to the first family of Congress but never showed interest in J&K’s politics till he was asked by Sonia Gandhi to become chief minister of J&K in 2005 under the agreement of three–year power-sharing with the PDP then led by Mufti Mohammad Sayed. 

Reluctantly Azad followed the command but never reconciled to his ‘demotion” to a regional leader.

However, in the process, Azad had rediscovered his roots, and the immense pride the people of Jammu showed in the son of the soil becoming the first non-Kashmiri chief minister of J&K. He won a landslide victory in the Assembly election from his native Doda and erased the label of being a Rajya Sabha type of leader. However, he later lost the Lok Sabha elections from Doda to Dr Jatinder Singh and was elected to Rajya Sabha from the state.  

Speculations about Azad’s secret deal with BJP have no basis right now but given the reality that in the past the party had forged a coalition with its diametrically opposite political force - People Democratic Party (PDP) of the Muftis Sayed - in 2015 such a possibility cannot  be ruled out for the future.

Azad is expected to launch his national outfit from Jammu amidst his supporters on Sunday. His supporters are Congress leaders who are deserting the sinking ship of the Congress party in J&K in hordes. They include leaders from both the regions of Jammu and Kashmir, former ministers, Speaker and nearly all former legislators.

Azad’s proposed party is being seen as a threat to the National Conference, a party led by the Abdullah family that the BJP is keen to see gets marginalized as part of its campaign to end family-ruled parties.

As the Congress party is weak, the National Conference was eyeing the traditional vote banks of the party. Even the Apni party leader Altaf Bukhari was trying to cultivate voters in north Kashmir which is traditionally a Congress stronghold up for grabs since Congress was in total disarray in J&K.

In case Azad chooses to fight the election in J&K – the most troubled will be the NC followed by Altaf Bukhari. The latter has already launched a campaign against Azad by alleging he had supported abrogation of the Article 370 in Parliament.

ALSO READ: Will Azad become the X-factor in J&K?

Of course the BJP stands to gain electorally, as Azad's incfluence may lure the non-BJP vote bank both in Jammu and Kashmir regions.