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The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) youth president and Lok Sabha candidate from Srinagar-Budgam constituency Waheed Ur Rehman Parra (37) has embarked on a door-to-door poll campaign.
Hailing from Naira, an idyllic village tucked away in thick apple orchards, some 36 kms south of Srinagar, Parra’s political journey has been anything but smooth. He spent a good 19 months in jail after being arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a militancy related case. In 2020, Parra fought and won his debut District Development Council (DDC) election from jail. He, however, was not allowed to take the oath. In 2023, he received the Yale Peace Fellowship at Yale University’s International Leadership Centre, but he was barred from travelling to the US to pursue the programme.
After the PDP nominated Parra as the party candidate from Srinagar- Budgam Lok Sabha seat, he is trying hard to wrest control of the seat presently held by the National Conference president Farooq Abdullah. In an interview with businessline, Parra says that his party stands alone in the LS polls and exudes confidence in achieving victory.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha and the 2014 Assembly elections, you were deeply engaged in canvassing for the top PDP candidates including the former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. Were those elections different from the 2024 polls?
The situation is completely different today. Since August 5, 2019, there has been a complete silence. The region has been deprived of a democratic process for the last five years. Now, for the first time, we are reaching out to the people. There has been a pervasive sense of suffocation and the people are looking for a relief valve.
Earlier, people were largely disinclined to cast their ballots, given the boycott call; how is the response of the people this time around?
The response is positive. People are granting more legitimacy to the mainstream political parties, showing a greater desire to connect with the leadership. But at the same time there is much pressure on them and they are not able to express themselves openly. People are also willing to listen to us. Moreover, previously, people were casting their votes to form a government, now they are voting to have a voice.
Do you say these elections are not fought for governance issues?
The demand for governance is not as pronounced as the desire to be heard is. The prevailing sentiment on the ground is that the people need a voice.
Voice for what?
Voice for being heard out. After August 5, 2019, the people feel that they are neglected and disenfranchised. There is a sense of disempowerment among them. They feel that they are politically not as empowered as they should have been. The Assembly elections have not been held for the last 10 ten years. Even the panchayat elections were not held.
In one of your rallies in July 2023, you criticised the National Conference, saying that it has scaled down its demands to hold elections only. Now you are talking about the same elections. Don’t you think it is in deep contrast to what you had said earlier?
See, elections cannot be a demand. They are our right. You can’t suspend democracy. The elections should have happened as a matter of course. My question was that when a party is making everything about elections, it undermines the broader democratic process. Today, the issue in Kashmir is not about elections and government formation. It is more than that. As I said, the people feel unrepresented and disempowered. Even if a government were formed tomorrow, it would not change that sentiment unless it truly reflects the consent of people.
During all your poll rallies, you repeatedly say that your party was disintegrated. Who do you hold responsible for it?
Obviously, it is the BJP that is responsible for it. There was much pressure on our leaders to desert the party. They were intimidated and the party is employing the same strategy in the other parts of the country.
Why could not the BJP break the other parties particularly the National Conference or intimidate their leaders?
I think it is because of our party’s fearlessness and commitment to speaking truth to power. Our party president Mehbooba Mufti has been more vocal than other leaders. The people in the Centre were not happy with us and they pulled out all the stops to disintegrate our party.
Do you mean the current dispensation is not happy with you?
Yes, the government in the Centre.
But earlier you had an alliance with them.
Yes, but later we have had some serious disagreements with them regarding the implementation of the agenda of alliance and that is where the whole tussle began.
But it was not the PDP that pulled out of the alliance?
There is no doubt that the BJP walked out of the alliance. But it was because we mounted persistent pressure on them to implement the agenda of alliance, which they did not and ultimately they pulled the plug.
What is your perspective on the emergence of new parties like the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party and Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Democratic Progressive Azad Party, given that several of your leaders have switched over to them?
These parties don’t have any legitimacy. They were formed to normalise what happened on August 5, 2019 and weaken the PDP.
After the National Conference and Congress decided to contest together on all six seats of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, does PDP feel dumped by the INDIA alliance ?
We are alone in this whole fight. Be it BJP and its proxies or Congress and National Conference, It is everybody versus Mehbooba ji. We are cornered by every political party and that is for various reasons. But our fight is not for winning or speaking only, but for representing the reality of Kashmir. We hold firm in our belief that victory will be ours.
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