Waheed ur Rehman Para, 36, the president of the youth wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is the party’s candidate for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, which votes on May 13.
Political parties have been selectively given space and some have been selectively erased from the political space.
What is your motivation behind making the jump to the Lok Sabha polls?
Waheed Para at a roadshow, as part of his Lok Sabha campaign.
(Express) Waheed Para at a roadshow, as part of his Lok Sabha campaign.
Waheed ur Rehman Para, 36, the president of the youth wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is the party’s candidate for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, which votes on May 13. He is up against the National Conference (NC)’s Aga Ruhullah Mehdi and the Apni Party’s Mohammad Ashraf Mir. In an interview with The Indian Express, he talks about why this election is different and how it could help to break the “silence” in the Valley. Excerpts:
There has been a complete sense of suffocation over the last five-six years. There has been thought-policing and people are being questioned over small issues. The clergy is silent, the bar is silent, activists are silent, journalists are not reporting what is happening on the ground. Political parties have been selectively given space and some have been selectively erased from the political space. The PDP has been the biggest casualty in the last five years. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act has been slapped against anyone who is talking.
More than political empowerment, the first thing we need is our voice. We need to reclaim the agency to feel, to speak, to breathe freely. For us, it is an opportunity to reconnect with the people and heal them, and in the process heal ourselves because there is a lot of trauma caused by the suffocation that is prevalent due to the invisible fear.
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The only election you have contested was for the District Development Council. What is your motivation behind making the jump to the Lok Sabha polls?
One is to take the opportunity to reach out to the people, and second to come out of the trauma, tension, and fear first myself. There has been constant psychological pressure on me because of the detention, jail and torture. I think this is an opportunity to forget things and move on.
Waheed Para at a roadshow, as part of his Lok Sabha campaign. (Express) Waheed Para at a roadshow, as part of his Lok Sabha campaign. (Express)
In my candidature, there is a message to the youth that an ordinary person can fight a parliamentary election from the PDP and that even if they level terror charges and UAPA against you, we will turn those things into qualifications.
You were expected to face NC’s Omar Abdullah, who chose to fight from Baramulla. Do you think this will have an impact?
I don’t know why he shifted, but for us it doesn’t matter much. They have a party that has not been weakened and the PDP is facing the worst onslaught but (public) sentiments resonate more with the PDP than any other party.
The PDP’s campaign has revolved around special status, identity, land and job security. How are you going to convince voters you will fulfil these promises?
We want to reclaim our voice, reclaim a space for conversation and reclaim hope. The moment you reclaim your voice, you are able to articulate your sentiments. Then people can talk about Article 370, statehood, elections, autonomy, self rule, anything. Right now, it is more important that this whole cycle of suffocation should end.
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If today, you are reporting on us, it is also an opportunity provided by these elections. Otherwise, there was no space available for these dialogues. I think we have to be optimistic and not cynical that nothing good can happen here. We need to be positive and see what the results will be at the Centre.
You are a part of the INDIA bloc and also an NC ally in the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD). You said you made sacrifices to keep the alliance intact but the NC disintegrated it by deciding to contest on all three seats in Kashmir. You wanted the Anantnag seat but people are asking if you made so many sacrifices, then why not this seat too?
We would have easily made the sacrifice but we should have been invited to make a sacrifice. The worst part was that the NC said (we) are irrelevant and don’t matter. Otherwise, we were willing to hand over all three seats. In our Political Affairs Committee, (party chief Mehbooba Mufti) openly said she doesn’t want to fight and we should give all the three seats to the NC if they make a call for them. But that call never came.
The NC has called you the ‘C team’ of the BJP. Your party leader is refraining from directly targeting its opponents. Why?
It doesn’t go well with the people. People want solidarity with each other. This election is not about the NC and PDP. It is more about what is happening with the people and where the real challenge is not the NC. The real challenge, if they win or lose, continues to be the BJP’s policies.
The biggest criticism against the PDP is that it sought votes in the 2014 Assembly polls to keep the BJP out but then allied with it to form a coalition government. How would you convince voters that it won’t happen again?
Even if we made an alliance with (the BJP), it was for the people of Kashmir, not against. We made an agenda of the alliance, which talked about the larger political process, reconciliation, inter-Kashmir dialogue and that a solution for Kashmir should be democratically addressed. We didn’t do it for the government or the chief ministership. It was for survival also.
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Now, for us, the main objective continues to be reclaiming what we have lost and the PDP is the only party that has been articulating the ground realities. There was an attack on (Mufti), her house was taken, her passport was taken, her mother was questioned, her father’s grave was investigated. So people understand what is happening selectively with one party, one family is being targeted after the abrogation of Article 370, and other parties have been saved or created.
What is the biggest fear and challenge for you?
I am still scared that they can detain and arrest you any time. So we have to be very guarded, very careful about every word. It is a huge risk because past experiences have given you an idea.
The challenge is that we are a party under onslaught and our workers are being harassed everyday. Wherever we have meetings, they profile all the people. There are government proxies who go to Delhi and misguide them about us. They have been lobbying to get me arrested again.
What is your biggest strength?
I think the stance of Mehbooba Mufti ji. It has actually made a ripple effect on the ground. And my strength, in many ways, is also the youth. I think the whole experience of going to jail has also brought me closer to the people.
