WHEN SHEIKH Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, comes out on parole to take oath as newly elected MP on Friday, it would be another moment that his party leaders would have not believed possible months ago.
Ishtiyaq Qadri, who is the chairman of the Political Affairs Committee of Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party, talks about the first. It was during the Lok Sabha election campaign for the Baramulla seat, when a sea of people gathered in Beerwah to greet the truck Qadri and other party leaders were canvassing in, on behalf of Rashid.
The 75-year-old, a trade union leader-turned-politician, says he was stunned. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There were people all around, tears welled up in my eyes,” says Qadri, adding that at that moment he knew that Rashid would “secure a massive win”.
Imprisoned in Tihar since 2019 in an alleged money laundering case related to terror funding, Rashid won from Baramulla defeating two heavyweights – former chief minister and National Conference president Omar Abdullah and People’s Conference’s leader Sajad Gani Lone. He finished two lakh votes ahead of Omar.
Crediting god for Rashid’s win, Qadri says it was also surprising as the decision that he would contest was taken at the last minute, with Rashid’s 23-year-old son Abrar stepping in to take charge of the campaign.
“We didn’t promise anything, we didn’t talk about Article 30, 35A or development. We only talked about his (Rashid’s) release. There was symbolism. We wanted every innocent out of jail and Engineer Rashid was a symbol (of that). Yet, people identified with us, they came to our rallies and they voted for us,” Qadri says, adding that Abrar’s contribution was “brilliant”.
Since the results, Abrar is back in college. Party insiders do not rule out him following in his father’s footsteps eventually, especially given that Rashid would be spending time in Delhi if released.
Given that Rashid led in 15 of the 18 Assembly segments falling in the Baramulla constituency, the Awami Ittehad Party is now gearing up for the state elections.
Qadri says they would contest not just all the Assembly seats in the Valley but also constituencies in the Pir Panjal and Chenab region in Jammu.
“Since the results, we have been getting feelers from political leaders – some new faces, some old. They want to join us… We have candidates coming in from Kathua and other places in Jammu… Like in the Lok Sabha polls, we will give a big surprise,” Qadri claims.
He adds that he expects numbers of those wanting to join the party to only keep rising. “But if we want to continue our progress, we know we have to look for clean faces.”
Before that, Qadri is hoping for another unexpected moment – that the parole to Rashid will be followed by regular bail. Omar too has called for Rashid’s release, along with that of other political prisoners in jail since long.
“He may be in Parliament soon,” says Qadri. “We are hopeful.”
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