Onlykashmir.in News Desk
The Awami Itihaad Party has sharply questioned Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti over her praise of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi on Accession Day, accusing her of overlooking decisions taken during their tenures that profoundly altered the political position of Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking in Srinagar on Tuesday, AIP Chief Spokesperson Inam Un Nabi asked how Mehbooba could celebrate that legacy without acknowledging what it meant for the region. “Mehbooba Mufti Sahiba must explain which Congress and which legacy she is celebrating,” he said, recalling that Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was arrested in 1953 during Nehru’s premiership. Inam described this as one of the most consequential episodes in Kashmir’s political history and called praise of Nehru without that context a selective reading of history.
He also raised the changes in the administrative system of Jammu and Kashmir and the growing role of the Centre in its affairs during Indira Gandhi’s tenure. Inam pointed to the replacement of the Sadr-i-Riyasat by a centrally appointed Governor, and of the Wazir-e-Azam by a Chief Minister, along with the expanding role of central administrative machinery, including the posting of IAS officers. In his view, anyone celebrating that era must confront these decisions and explain what they meant for the political identity and autonomy of the people.
Inam additionally referred to the remark attributed to Indira Gandhi that the clock could not be turned back, saying historical statements and decisions must be examined in context and not used selectively to suit present-day politics. He went on to say that Mehbooba’s praise of Congress leaders increasingly made her appear to be a mouthpiece of the Congress, and that she could not claim to defend Kashmir’s political interests while overlooking the record of the leadership she was now applauding.
The AIP spokesperson was careful, however, to clarify that his party was not offering the BJP a reprieve. Questioning the Congress’s past did not absolve the BJP of responsibility for its own decisions, he said, particularly the changes imposed on Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. “AIP will neither whitewash Congress’s historical record nor give the BJP a free pass,” he said, adding that both parties must be held accountable.
The exchange reflects the continuing contest in Kashmir’s politics over how the events of the post-accession decades are remembered, and who is entitled to invoke them. References to 1953, to the change in constitutional offices and to August 2019 remain potent markers in that debate, and parties across the spectrum use them to frame their own claims.
Inam concluded that Kashmir’s history could not be rewritten to suit the political convenience of national parties, and that the people deserve political honesty rather than selective memory.
