Delhi Dialogue: Cong High Command Warns J&K Leaders Against Public Infighting, Calls for Discipline

Even as Rajya Sabha member and AICC General Secretary in charge of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Dr. Syed Naseer Hussain, termed Monday's meeting a routine discussion on organisational issues, Congress leaders from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir were reportedly warned by the party high command against demonising one another in public.

As reported earlier, five senior Congress leaders—including AICC General Secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir, who is also the Congress Legislature Party leader in the J&K Assembly; J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Tariq Hamid Karra; JKPCC Working President Raman Bhalla; former JKPCC chief Vikar Rasool Wani; and former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand—were summoned to New Delhi by the party high command to bring about a truce among the warring factions.

Sources said the two-hour-long meeting in Delhi concluded with a warning to all J&K leaders to maintain party discipline at any cost.

Highly placed sources said the Congress high command has taken serious note of the recent statements made by some senior party leaders, especially former J&K Congress president and Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Vikar Rasool Wani, who has launched a campaign against incumbent J&K party chief Tariq Hamid Karra.

"All leaders were warned against crossing the line and indulging in indiscipline," a source said, adding, "The high command has asked all leaders to air their views in internal meetings instead of speaking in public gatherings."

Sources said the high command issued strict warnings to party leaders against speaking out against one another and directed them to maintain discipline at all costs.

As reported earlier, while addressing a public rally in Khour, Jammu, on May 22, Vikar Rasool Wani launched a blistering attack on Tariq Hamid Karra and accused the incumbent J&K Congress chief of pursuing a separatist agenda. He recalled Karra's proposal to introduce Pakistani currency alongside Indian currency in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir during the PDP-Congress regime.

He reminded party workers of Karra's political past and alleged that some leaders currently occupying influential positions in the party had earlier advocated policies inconsistent with the Congress party's nationalist ideology.

"They are the same people who had moved resolutions in the Legislative Assembly of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir seeking the introduction of Pakistani currency alongside Indian currency," Wani alleged.

Meanwhile, Dr. Syed Naseer Hussain said the entire senior leadership of Jammu & Kashmirhad been invited to discuss ongoing political developments and the recently concluded organisational restructuring.

"We also discussed the issue of statehood, which the Congress party has consistently championed while advocating for the rights of our region," he said, adding, "We had previously organised major protests and agitations across all districts and held a significant demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi."

Regarding the demand for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, he said that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had even written to the Prime Minister, urging the restoration of statehood in response to the people's demand.

"The absence of statehood is causing numerous difficulties. Development activities have stalled, and the bureaucracy, police, and security apparatus are entirely under the Lieutenant Governor's control," he said, adding, "Every file has to go to the Lieutenant Governor. We want Jammu & Kashmir to function like other states, with a proper government and administration, so that an elected government can run the Union Territory smoothly rather than having an unelected Lieutenant Governor running the administration."