'Peace cannot be seasonal'

September 18, 2024 10:16

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami, 77, has been continuously winning assembly elections from 1996 onwards from Kulgam, which is a record of sorts in Kashmir.

This election, his challenger has come from the most unexpected quarter -- the Jamaat-E-Islami, a banned outfit in Jammu and Kashmir.

For the last 30 years, the JeI did not believe in Indian democracy and even if it did, it was a silent supporter of the Peoples Democratic Party in south Kashmir.

This time, the Jamaat has backed an Independent candidate, Sayar Ahmed Reshi, a teacher turned politician, for the elections on September 18.

Engineer Rashid, the Lok Sabha MP from Baramulla who is out on interim bail and drawing large crowds on the campaign trail, has decided to do an alliance with the Jamat-E-Islami.

The people of Kulgam say it is a battle of Red versus Green -- red for Tarigami's CPI-M and green for the Jamaat supported Independent nominee.

"Jamaat has been saying for the last 30 years that the Indian Constitution is unacceptable. They said that anyone who takes oath on the Indian Constitution is a criminal... If you go through the pages of history you will find out what Jamaat-e-Islami said yesterday and what they are saying today. There is a shift in their stance and this shift of stance they have to explain to the people of Kashmir," Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com.

Read the interview here.

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