GHULAM NABI AZAD’S Democratic Azad Party (DAP) has begun to implode. The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister had launched the party after quitting the Congress in August. His supporters, however, have already begun deserting him. More than 30 of his loyalists have rejoined the Congress in the past few weeks, leaving Azad and his party rattled. For the Congress, it has been a shot in the arm as Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra is set to enter the Union territory on January 19.
Azad had positioned the DAP as an alternative to the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir. But the defections to the Congress, and the possibility of more leaders following suit, have dented the party’s prospects. On January 6 alone, 17 DAP leaders joined the Congress in Delhi. They included former deputy chief minister and DAP vice chairman Tara Chand, and former ministers Balwan Singh, Manohar Lal Sharma and Peerzada Muhammad Sayeed. They were expelled by the DAP on December 22 for “hobnobbing” with the Congress and engaging in “anti-party activities”.
AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal welcomed the leaders, saying it was a happy day for the Congress as they had returned before the start of the Kashmir leg of Bharat Jodo Yatra. “This is only the beginning. When the yatra enters Jammu and Kashmir, all people who follow Congress ideology and those who want a united India will join the party,” said Venugopal. “[The leaders who have rejoined] had gone on leave for two months.”
Chand said they were “carried away by the friendship and loyalty towards Azad”, and that their decision to quit the Congress was a mistake. “I am a born Congressman who has worked throughout my life to strengthen the party,” he said. “We will work to strengthen secular forces in J&K.”
A dalit leader, Chand represented Chhamb constituency from 1996 to 2014. He was defeated in the 2014 assembly polls, the last to be held in Jammu and Kashmir. Last year, the delimitation commission redrew boundaries of all 83 assembly seats in the Union territory. The total number of seats went up to 90, with new constituencies carved out in six districts. The number of reserved seats also went up, but Chhamb is no longer one.
Tara Chand with K.C. Venugopal on January 6 | PTI
Apparently, the uncertainty over seats is a major reason for the defections. Sayeed, who represented Kokernag in the assembly in 2002 and 2008, was reportedly upset about Azad not promising him a ticket. After delimitation, Kokernag is one of the three constituencies in Kashmir reserved for the scheduled tribes.
Sayeed’s return to the Congress is a setback to the DAP as he was the face of the party in Kashmir. He is also said to have influenced the decision of Gurjar leaders Nizamuddin Khatana and Choudhary Gulzar to quit the DAP. The Congress is also reportedly trying to woo DAP leaders Muhammad Amin Bhat and Haji Abdul Rashid, with whom Sayeed has good relations.
The DAP is losing leaders in Jammu as well. M.K. Bhardwaj, president of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, left the DAP for the Congress reportedly because he was unhappy about not being promised a party ticket from Vijaypur assembly seat.
With Bharat Jodo Yatra set to enter the Union territory on January 19, with a grand concluding function in Srinagar on January 30, more DAP leaders are expected to support the Congress.
Azad has put up a brave face on the desertions. “I do not worry whether 10 or 12 leaders go to Delhi,” he said a day after 17 DAP leaders joined the Congress. “As long as voters are with me, I do not worry about leaders. You (voters) make the leaders. I used to give tickets, you made them win.”
DAP treasurer Taj Mohiuddin said the defected leaders were politically insignificant since they had lost constituencies. “Tara Chand’s constituency is no longer reserved after delimitation. What will he do now?” asked Mohiuddin. He said Khatana quit the party because he needed Sayeed’s support in Kokernag. “They were senior leaders, but they wanted hegemony,” said Mohiuddin. According to him, senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla will have a tough time in Jammu as his Gandhinagar constituency has also been redrawn.
What is worrying the DAP is that, even though it has managed to gain a toehold in Jammu and Kashmir’s political landscape, it has not been able to attract big names from parties other than the Congress. Its chances lie more in Muslim-majority districts such as Poonch and Rajouri in Kashmir, and Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban in Jammu. After delimitation, though, chances of non-Muslim candidates winning the polls have improved.
Azad had launched the DAP when the two major regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir―the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party―were weakened because of the revocation of Article 370. But then, both the NC and the PDP have survived tough times, and the feeling of disempowerment in the valley and anti-incumbency against the BJP are likely to help them in the polls.
Observers say Azad has failed to lure leaders from non-Congress parties because he has been soft on the BJP. He is keen to join hands with the NC and the PDP, but both the parties have lent support to the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Farooq Abdullah of the NC had joined the yatra as it passed through Uttar Pradesh, signalling his party’s priorities. Under the circumstances, the path ahead for Azad seems unsteady.