Looking to defend the Communist Party of India (Marxist) bastion of Kulgam, which he has won since 1996, Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami is now facing a very different challenge in the form of a candidate backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami.
Speaking exclusively to NDTV on Tuesday, Mr Tarigami said this is not the first time the Jamaat has made a U-turn in terms of entering electoral politics and insisted that there is no “green wave” in the red citadel.
The CPI(M) leader, who is the consensus candidate of the National Conference-Congress alliance, faces a contest from Sayyar Ahmed Reshi, a candidate backed by the Jamaat, Mohammad Amin Dar from the Peoples Democratic Party and the Apni Party’s Engineer Mohammad Aqib in Kulgam, which will vote in the first phase of the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18.
Asked about talk of a “green wave” in the constituency, Mr Tarigami said, “Not at all. Since 1996, which was the peak of militancy, despite all odds and difficulties, when our cadres were being killed, we campaigned, defied the writ of militants and succeeded in winning the confidence of the people. As far as today is concerned, it is not something new; people are mistaken, as if Jamaat has taken a U-turn for the first time. Going through their history will tell you this”.
“I was in jail for 21 months in 1972 after the plebiscite movement was banned and, when I was released, I was received in my constituency by a Jamaat-e-Islami MLA,” he said.
Mr Tarigami also said that the Jamaat had won seats in Jammu and Kashmir in 1983 and also in 1987 – an election that he termed “massively rigged”.
The Jammu and Kashmir elections will be held in three phases between September 18 and October 1, and the counting of votes for the 90 Assembly seats will take place on October 8. This is Jammu and Kashmir’s first Assembly election since 2014 as well as the first since the removal of Article 370.
Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was abrogated on August 5, 2019, and the state was also divided into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. The restoration of statehood has become a major political issue in elections and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has accused Rahul Gandhi and the National Conference of misleading people.
“I want to ask Rahul baba and Abdullah sahab, how will you restore statehood? Stop misleading the people of Jammu and Kashmir… this can only be done by the Union government and PM Narendra Modi. I have already said that Jammu and Kashmir will get statehood at an appropriate time after the elections. I have said this in Parliament,” he said at an election event in Jammu on Saturday.