Sajad Lone is also a dynast. How can he then claim to cleanse Kashmir of family politics?
Now that the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly stands dissolved and the Election Commission of India has announced tentative dates for fresh assembly elections, there are already wider claims of a 'third front' emerging in Jammu and Kashmir. This third front is led by Sajad Lone, an erstwhile separatist and a former representative from the Handwara constituency, which also happens to be his native town.
However, the larger question among political and public circles remains, "Has an alternative in the form of a third front really emerged on the political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir?"
The correct answer lies in understanding the history of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference (JKPC), headed by Sajad Lone.
The Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference was founded by Sajad's father, the late Abdul Ghani Lone, in 1978. The leader made his entry into state politics as a member of the legislative assembly, on a Congress ticket in the year 1967. In subsequent years, Abdul Ghani Lone went on to become minister for education and health in Mir Qasim's cabinet.
However, in 1976, Indira Gandhi expelled Abdul Ghani Lone from the Congress and he decided to fight the upcoming elections on a Janata Party ticket. In 1977, Lone contested elections on a Janata Party ticket and won. However, within a year, he resigned from the Janata Party and floated his own party – the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference (JKPC).
Though the JKPC was originally floated as a mainstream political party, with the aim of working for the restoration of the internal autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, in subsequent years, JKPC also reportedly emerged as one of the separatist groups advocating a larger cry for an independent Jammu and Kashmir.
However, in the later years of his life, Abdul Lone was seen as a moderate voice among separatist groups – something that finally led to his tragic killing in 2002.
Sajad Lone and his elder brother Bilal stayed aloof from politics. It was only after the death of their father that the two brothers joined politics in Jammu and Kashmir. The JKPC broke into two factions, one headed by Sajad, another by Bilal.
While Bilal Lone’s faction continues to remain in the separatist camp, Sajad Lone entered mainstream electoral politics in 2009. And in 2014, a Sajad Lone-led JKPC contested assembly elections, fielding candidates in many parts of the Valley, winning two seats from north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
Sajad Lone was then included in the BJP–PDP coalition government on a BJP quota and inducted into the cabinet as the minister for science and technology and animal husbandry. However, Lone reportedly refused to take charge as he was not given a ministry of his choice. He was so miffed, it is claimed, that he boarded a flight to Srinagar the very next day where he termed his induction as an insult by the BJP.
After he turned down that offer, Lone was inducted into the cabinet as the minister for social welfare. In my opinion, though, this shows Lone’s political ambitions are more power-centric rather than people-centric. He apparently believed that animal husbandry - the most vital part of any state's economy - was not worthy enough of being taken care by him. Yet, Lone was representing a rural area of Kashmir, where a major chunk of the population eke out their livelihood through the rearing of cattle. In my view, had Sajad Lone been really sincere about the welfare of his people, he would have taken charge of such an important ministry and tried to make a difference in the lives of people who are directly dependent on livestock.
This was the first blow to his claims of being an 'agent of change' and a person who believes in making a difference to ordinary people’s lives.
Now, during his tenure as social welfare minister in Jammu and Kashmir, Sajad Lone didn't make any significant changes on ground-level. He too reportedly started to adjust his own favoured party men in various plum positions.
Frequently these days, Sajad Lone, in his press conferences and on his social media, targets Mehbooba Mufti and Omer Abdullah as dynasts who have held the state of Jammu and Kashmir hostage to their whims for decades. He has heroically vowed to throw these dynasts out of power.
But the larger question is, isn’t Sajad a dynast himself?
Sajad Lone heads a faction of a party founded by his father and has been the president of it since 2002. There is no tradition of internal elections in his party for the post of president. He has been running the party for many years as its president and recently, while staking a claim for forming a government, presented himself as a chief ministerial candidate.
So, if Omar and Mehbooba are dynasts because no one except their family members heads their parties, isn’t Sajad Lone also a dynast by precisely such standards?
The JKNC and PDP still have a tradition of symbolic internal elections for the post of president. However, the Peoples Conference is yet to have such a tradition, even symbolic. As Junaid Mattu, a JKPC leader and the new Mayor of Srinagar, wrote in one of his blogs in September 2013 upon his joining JKNC, "After three years with the Peoples’ Conference and with due respect to Mr Lone, I eventually decided to not stay in a party which has to function on the whims of one single man.”
So, as I see it, the much vaunted 'third front' of Jammu and Kashmir is nothing but another dynast emerging on the political landscape, aiming to replace the already existing dynasts.