The Kashmir Pulse

JAMMU — The Aam Admi Party on Saturday expelled former MLA Udhampur, Balwant Singh Mankotia on charges of hobnobbing with other political parties and defaming the party.

In a letter, a copy of which is available with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the AAP has terminated the membership of Mankotia on charges of indulging in anti-party activities.

In the letter, Mankotia had been charged with “engaging with other national and regional parties of J&K” and “not engaging or participating in any of the AAP political activities and not performing any task given by the party in the last three months.”

He has also been accused of “influencing AAP volunteers to join other parties and offering them positions in other parties.”

The AAP has also charged him with “defaming party on media platforms by making false statements under the influence of another political party and confusing the AAP volunteers”.

Balwant Singh Mankotia had joined AAP in April this year but was feeling uncomfortable in the party after his cousin and former minister Harshdev Singh joined the party—(KNO)

SRINAGAR — Days after its “exit” from the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement (JKPM), the political party founded by IAS officer Dr Shah Faesal in 2019, merged with Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday.

Reports, as per the news agency Kashmir News Observer, said that JKPM President Dr Ghulam Mustafa Khan and other officer bearers of the party joined AAP in New Delhi.

The JKPM, which was launched with much fanfare, was pushed to the political margins of Kashmir politics after Shah Faesal and former MLA Javed Mustafa resigned from it.

In the 2020 DDC polls, JKPM was part of the PAGD but it recently announced that it was no more part of the conglomerate.

The JKPM and AAP have diametrically opposite stances on the abrogation of Article 370 by the Centre. While Kejriwal had supported the abrogation of Article 370, JKPM challenged it in the Supreme Court.

“We support the government on its decisions on J&K. We hope this will bring peace and development in the state,” Kejriwal tweeted on August 5, 2019.

SRINAGAR — Scores of leaders from the Panthers Party including former education minister, Harsh Dev Singh joined Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday.

The announcement was made during a presser addressed by AAP’s leader and Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Durgesh Pathak.

As per the news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Singh, who won Assembly elections thrice from Ramnagar constituency in Jammu division, had met AAP leaders on April 07, 2022, wherein the leaders discussed the modalities and plans for the formal joining.

After a gap of one month, Singh, who was also chairman of Panthers Party along with several other leaders including provincial president Rajesh Pandgotra, spokesman Gagan Pratap Singh, Purushottam Parihar and Sudesh Dogra joined AAP today.

The leaders were welcomed into the party fold during a news conference.

JAMMU — D S Ranotra, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, raised the issue against Language Bill passed in September 2020 by Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.

Aam Aadmi Party leader, in a statement to The Kashmir Pulse, said that the new law makes provisions only to cheer the Punjabi language, along with Gurjari and Pahari, but does not include it in J&K’s list of official languages.

He flayed the Centre over the exclusion of Punjabi from the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, describing the move as “anti-minority”.

AAP leader added that 20,000 Crore worth of schemes announced for the people of Jammu and Kashmir is actually for the BJP team of Jammu and Kashmir. He said it’s just a 'JUMLA-ISM' of Modi.

He also said that Punjabi was a part and parcel of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir before the abrogation of Article 370 provisions. “Punjabi was a recognized language duly certified by the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir.”

The AAP leader said the move had “badly bruised the sentiments of the minorities, more so of those belonging to the Sikh community”. He added that Punjabi was a popular language in Jammu and Kashmir spoken by lakhs of people.

Ranotra condemned the alleged neglect of the Punjabi language in the state. He claimed that first, it was made a non-compulsory subject/language and then all efforts were made by the successive governments to the extinction of the Punjabi language.

“Punjabi language has been given the recognition and guarantee under Article 146, Schedule VI of the J&K Constitution. Thus, it becomes obligatory on the part of the J&K Government to make all efforts for the promotion of Punjabi language in addition to other regional languages,” the statement said.

SRINAGAR — With Jammu and Kashmir polls in mind, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) these days is too busy attracting the attention of the people.

Arvind Kejriwal has dispatched a special ‘observer’ team that is camping in Valley and Jammu. AAP is confident of ‘victory’, if not in Kashmir, but in Jammu, it can challenge the BJP in its strong bastions.

AAP’s Co-Observer for Jammu Kashmir, Salahuddin Khan who hails from New Delhi told news agency Kashmir News Trust that they are keenly observing the ground situation both in Kashmir and Jammu. “We have been meeting a cross-section of society. Their valuable inputs have really been helping us. It's very important to know who is who in the political arena and who is commanding more respect,” he said.

“We won Punjab showcasing our Delhi Model. AAP is hopeful that it will make a mark in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said, adding that people with a good reputation are always welcome in party-fold.

A senior party member and district president Shopian, Advocate Ieshan said that AAP’s impressive performance and its upright and pro-people policies are connecting people with the party. “AAP will emerge a force to reckon with,” he said with confidence.

Recently AAP’s impressive roadshow in Chenab Valley saw spontaneous participation of people.

“We will contest all 90 Assembly seats across Jammu and Kashmir,” Salahuddin maintained, adding that the party has seriously arrived in J&K.

To a question that AAP is reluctant to welcome turncoats and politicians with not a good reputation, founder member of the AAP in Kashmir and General Secretary Younis Naik said that Arvind Kejriwal welcomes all but at the end of the day, he believes in people and seeks their guidance and help when it comes to the dispersal of tickets for the Assembly segments.

In response to a question about the presence of the Aam Aadmi Party in Jammu and Kashmir, President Apni Party, Syed Muhammad Altaf Bukhari says having more and more options is always in the interest of the people. “Presence of so many political parties implies that people have alternatives and that is very good,” Bukhari said.

Another Apni Party leader who wished not to be named said that AAP will really threaten the BJP in Jammu. “The presence of AAP has already frustrated the BJP leaders in Jammu,” he said.

Recently, BJP National General Secretary, Tarun Chugh while addressing party workers in Udhampur termed the AAP leaders as ‘opportunists.

In a veiled attack on Aam Aadmi Party, he called upon the BJP workers to launch a crusade against opportunist and 'anti-national forces' while questioning AAP’s statement on ‘The Kashmir Files’ the one day and the next day the same party announced a comprehensive penetration program in Jammu & Kashmir.

“BJP doesn’t want penetration of AAP in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in Jammu,” political leader Er Nazir Itoo said.

Reports from Jammu suggest that there are many known faces in local politics including former ministers, MLAs, MLCs who have reportedly expressed their wish to join AAP.

“To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. AAP works for people and people will certainly want this party to grow in Jammu and Kashmir,” Salahuddin Khan said.

SRINAGAR — Amid slogans “Jammu Kashmir Ki Majboori Hain, Kejriwal Zaroori Hain”, two former MLAs from Panthers Party joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in New Delhi in presence of its top leaders on Friday afternoon.

Two former MLAs of the Panthers Party - Balwant Singh Mankotia and Yashpal Kundal - joined Arvind Kejriwal led the political party at its New Delhi headquarters in presence of AAP’s Delhi convener Gopal Rai, Delhi cabinet minister Imran Hussain and senior leader Durgesh Pathak.

Besides two former legislators, Gambhir Charak, son of former cabinet minister Gulchain Singh Charak, DDC member Taranjit Singh Tony, DDC member Sheikh Zaffarullah, DDC member Fayaz Ahmad Nayak, DDC member Muneer Bhat and others joined the party.

According to observers, it would be interesting to watch whether AAP would hurt the electoral prospects of the BJP in Assembly elections in Jammu.

“The entry of AAP won’t have any impact on our electoral prospects but delaying elections could prove disadvantageous to us,” a senior BJP leader told KNO.