The completion of my Rajya Sabha term meant that I was able to devote more time to my Gandhian pursuits. But this also meant that for the first time in my political career, I had no political work. Right from my IYC days till I was LoP, I used to have multiple responsibilities. When I was state president of the IYC, I was also in the parent organisation. And while I was general secretary of the IYC at the national level, I had triple responsibilities: I was also president of the all-India Muslim youth conference, which was affiliated with the Congress, and district president of Congress of Doda district, the largest district of the state that time. Subsequently, I was a minister and also general secretary of the party in-charge of several states. Thereafter, I held the positions of LoP and general secretary of the party.
However, all this was set to change. The letter that the G23 leaders wrote to Congress President Sonia ji in August 2020 marked the beginning of the end. Unfortunately, instead of taking this letter as a wake-up call and strengthening the organisation and holding party elections on the lines we had suggested, both Rahul and Sonia ji took offence and viewed it as a challenge to their authority. Instead of heeding our advice, they dubbed us as being pro-BJP. I still wonder—if we were pro-BJP, why would we suggest strengthening the organisation? Rather, we would simply let things continue as they are and make the dream of a Congress-mukt Bharat (Congress-free India)—which the current leadership seems to have embarked upon—come true.
I realised that the situation in the Congress party had reached a point of no return. It was then I decided, albeit with an extremely leaden heart, to call time on my half-a-century old association with the party
The immediate effect of this letter was that I was dropped from the general secretary position in the party. I was also dropped from the national star campaign after 40 years—I had been in the national campaign committee since 1980 and had the privilege of campaigning for the party across the country for panchayat, state and national elections and even for the president of the country. This was despite the fact that I have always liked party work more than government or parliamentary duties. But writing a letter to strengthen the same organization cost me heavily.
The last thing that I had was the Rajya Sabha seat, whose term ended in February 2021. I could have asked Sonia ji or Rahul for a renomination, but I didn’t since my state assembly had been dissolved. I wasn’t expecting it either. They had taken away the post of general secretary and my position in the star campaign committee after four decades, so how could I expect that I would be renominated from another state like several of my other G23 colleagues? So, from February that year till August 2022, I had no party or legislative work to do. I was sitting at home, meeting people coming from different parts of the country. But I could not do anything for them since none of my recommendations were entertained at any level within the party.
I realised that the situation in the Congress party had reached a point of no return. It was then I decided, albeit with an extremely leaden heart, to call time on my half-a-century old association with the party. On 26 August, in a letter addressed to then Congress President Sonia ji, I resigned from all positions including the primary 300 AZAAD membership of the party. From the complete demolition of the party’s consultative mechanism by Rahul to the rise of a new coterie of inexperienced sycophants to run the affairs of the party; from the remote-control model that destroyed the institutional integrity of this great organisation to the manner in which proxies were being propped up to take over the leadership of the party, it was a no-holds-barred account of how the Grand Old Party had lost both the will and the ability to fight for what is right for India.
Once the political storm triggered by my resignation subsided, I was left with two options: either to sit at home, rot and degenerate or do something worthwhile. Being a postgraduate science student, I knew of and remembered Lamarck’s theory of use and disuse of an organ. According to this theory, the organs that are used more develop more, while those that are used less degenerate over a period of time or remain weak. I realised that if I didn’t use my brain and vocal cords, they would degenerate. In the US, Americans don’t retire as long as they are mentally capable and physically fit. I believed that I was both.
When I realised that my ambition of seeing the Congress party back in power was not in line with the present-day leadership of the Congress, I felt I should build my own nest, which I could nurture myself. This is how I came to the conclusion that, instead of letting the Congress and right-minded people die their own death in the most border-sensitive state of J&K, I must rejuvenate and encourage old and young, men and women to strengthen the time-tested secular foundations of the state. This was a fact that even Gandhi had acknowledged in 1947.
This was a unique opportunity for me to fulfil Gandhi’s dream. And thus, Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), the newest political party in J&K, was born on 26 September. It stands for democracy, peace, and independence, as enumerated by its three colours: mustard, which indicates creativity and unity in diversity; white, which stands for peace, and blue, which stands for freedom to speak, open space, imagination and limits from the depths of the ocean to heights of the sky.
The initial response of the people was overwhelming and beyond my expectations. I was particularly happy that the response was the same from all religious communities and regions of the state. And this is what we need in J&K. All through my life, through school and college days I have been preaching brotherhood, love and affection for each other irrespective of religion and caste. As the CM and as a Union Cabinet minister, I have been preaching that our hearts and minds are free from religious fear and caste dogma. We are all creations of one God and, as human beings, different from other creations of God. We have different religions and caste, but our blood is the same.
…… In the end, I would like to quote an Urdu couplet by noted poet and lyricist Shakeel Badayuni that sums up my thoughts for my beloved state: Mera azm itna buland hai ke paraye sholo ka dar nahi Mujhe khauf aatish-e-gul se hai kahin ye chaman ko jala na de (My conviction is so great that I am not fearful of others’ sparks, My fear is of the fire in the flower that might set the garden aflame.)
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