Kashmir's Shia Leader Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi Quits National Conference Amid Leadership Differences

The National Conference (NC)’s Srinagar MP, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, 50, recently resigned from both the party and the Lok Sabha over his sharp differences with the party leadership, especially Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah . Ruhullah belongs to an influential Shia family in Budgam district, which has considerable heft in the politics of central Kashmir. Agas of Valley Agas are one of the two most prominent Shia families of Kashmir – with Ansaris being the other one – which have long held sway over the community’s religious affairs. Also, the Aga family has had considerable influence in the political sphere across the mainstream-separatist divide in the Valley. The Aga clan’s ascent is linked to the leadership of Aga Syed Yousef, who was revered by Shias as “Boud Aga Saeb” (bigger Aga). Aga Yousef was said to be close to Iran’s first Supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as the two had studied together at a seminary in Iraq’s Najaf before the 1979 Iranian revolution. While Yousef founded the Anjuman Sharie Shian in the 1940s in Kashmir with a focus on the Shia community’s education and the Shia-Sunni unity, he stayed away from politics. However, aware of his stature among Shias, NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah would often visit Yousef. Many Shias would also prefer his office over the state courts for resolution of their disputes. When Yousef died in 1982, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi drove to Budgam to pay her tributes. His demise led to a succession struggle in the Aga family with two members staking their claims for his position – his son Aga Fazlullah and nephew Aga Mustafa. As per some accounts, their family row even reached Iran where Khomeini purportedly backed Mustafa, who took over as Yousef’s successor. The dispute led to two Shia factions: the followers of Mustafa were called “Mustafais” while those of Fazlullah were known as “Mohammadis”. In late 1980, when on Khomeini’s direction, Ayatollah Syed Ali Khamenei visited Kashmir and addressed people at Srinagar’s grand mosque, it was Mustafa’s elder son Syed Hussain, who was his interpreter. Stints in politics The Aga family’s engagement with politics started when Mustafa’s son and the Ajuman’s head Aga Syed Hassan Mosavi joined the separatist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference in early 1990s. Hassan later backed its moderate faction led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Hassan’s brother Aga Syed Mehdi, Ruhullah’s father, was the first member of the Aga family to join mainstream politics. Seen by Shias as a “man of courage and compassion”, Mehdi was known for his stand against the J&K Police’s Special Task Force (STF) that was set up as an elite counter insurgency force but was accused of allegedly indulging in excesses and extra-judicial killings. Mehdi jumped into electoral politics as a Congress candidate against Omar Abdullah in Srinagar in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections. During the poll campaign, the then Congress president Sitaram Kesari sent a message to Mehdi asking him to withdraw his candidature. Mehdi didn’t comply with the Congress chief’s directive and lost to Omar. A reference to this episode was made by Ruhullah while announcing his resignation at a rally in Budgam on November 3, which marked the 26th death anniversary of his father Mehdi. He then said in comments directed at Omar that “no Sitaram Kesari is going to save you this time”. In 2000, Mehdi was killed in a militant attack near Magam on the Srinagar-Gulmarg road when his vehicle was hit by a landmine. In contrast to Agas, Ansaris had made a foray into politics before the Partition. They, too, faced a succession conflict with Iftikar Hussain Ansari and Abbas Ansari emerging as the contenders for their family’s legacy, adopting divergent political ideologies. While Abbas Ansari threw his weight behind Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq (father of Mirwaiz Umar)’s Awami Action Committee and later formed his own Ittihadul Muslimeen outfit, Iftikhar Hussain Ansari joined mainstream politics, switching from the Peoples Conference (PC) to Congress and NC before finally joining the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). His son Imran Ansari, who was a minister in the previous PDP government, crossed over to the Sajad Lone-led PC after the abrogation of J&K’s special status under Article 370 in August 2019. Ruhullah’s journey Two years after his father’s death, Ruhullah was inducted into politics by NC president Farooq Abdullah , who personally visited him to persuade him to join the party. Subsequently, Ruhullah was fielded as an NC candidate from the Budgam seat in the 2002 Assembly elections, which he won. He went on to win from his home turf in 2008 and 2014. His rift with the NC leadership was ignited after the scrapping of Article 370 by the BJP-ruled Centre in August 2019. In July 2020, Ruhullah quit as the NC’s chief spokesman, which was apparently linked to the party leadership’s “silence” over the Centre’s abrogation move. The immediate trigger for it was said to be an opinion piece by his colleague Tanvir Sadiq that was seen by many as the party’s official line. In his article Sadiq had argued for “reconciliation” with the Centre and review of domicile laws which Ruhullah saw as resorting to “begging” before New Delhi. The NC leadership, however, managed to pacify him and fielded him from Srinagar in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which he clinched by defeating the PDP’s Waheed Para. In the 2024 Assembly elections, Ruhullah supported Omar’s candidature from the Budgam seat, who defeated his cousin and PDP candidate Aga Muntazir Mehdi, the son of Hurriyat leader Hassan. Ruhullah was married to Hassan’s daughter, but the marriage ended in divorce leading to a feud in their family. Ruhullah later married an Iranian national. The tension between Ruhullah and the NC top brass flared up in the wake of the 2024 Assembly polls when CM Omar decided to retain the Ganderbal constituency while resigning from his second seat, Budgam. The NC looked to give its ticket to Omar’s confidant Nasir Aslam Wani in the Budgam bypoll and sought Ruhullah’s support, but he refused to back Wani. As Ruhullah stepped aside, his cousin Muntazir eventually trounced NC candidate Aga Mehmood, who had been a minister in the erstwhile Farooq Abdullah government. Mehmood also belongs to the Aga clan as he is the younger brother of Fazlullah, who was caught in a succession battle with his cousin Mustafa in the past. Mehmood had won from Pattan in 1987 and Beerwah in 1996. Hassan’s other brother, Aga Syed Mohsin, uncle of Ruhullah and Muntazir, also took a plunge in politics. He was the PDP’s former additional general secretary, who had contested, unsuccessfully, against Farooq Abdullah from the Srinagar parliamentary seat in 2019. So Agas have played a range of roles across Kashmir’s political spectrum, even as Ruhullah, after quitting the NC, is now seeking to chart his own course.