Engineer Rashid causes Baramulla upset from jail, leads with 1.7 lakh margin

As the campaign for this high-profile contest drew to a close, it was visible that Rashid was closing the gap – not just the 800 km that separate Tihar Jail from Baramulla, but also the one between him and Abdullah and Lone.

With Rashid in jail, his sons Abrar, 23, and brother Asrar, 21, were leading the fight and addressing rallies that saw a high participation of the youth.

Rashid’s presence in the Baramulla seat race was projected as a symbol of defiance against the government, with his campaign slogans and energy carrying the intensity of separatist rallies of the past. At the same time, the fact that Engineer’s campaign has appealed to those disillusioned with the mainstream parties in the Valley, and have been a part of “boycott politics”, is a vote of confidence in the electoral system.

Abrar, while addressing a rally in Seelo, Sopore during the campaign had addressed this very point.

“Muje pata hai, aap boycott wale ho (I know you have supported boycotting elections in the past)… But promise me, this time you will not. This time, you will come out and vote… You will vote for the pressure cooker (the election symbol of Rashid),… I thought I was alone. I can’t get him (Rashid) out of jail… But now I know that the people of Kashmir are behind me,” he had said.

The common refrain of the crowds in these rallies was — “Ghar, ghar, Engineer (Engineer in every house)”; “Farooq banoge? Na bhai na. Sajad banoge? Na bhai na (Will you become Farooq Abdullah, Sajad Lone? No, never)”.

Who is Engineer Rashid?

A resident of Qalamabad in Langate, in Kupwara district, Rashid was an employee with Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation. His interest in politics led him to become an aide of Hurriyat leader and Sajad Lone’s father Abdul Gani Lone. In early 2000, Rashid shot to the spotlight when he launched a campaign against alleged forced labour by the Army in Langate.

After Abdul Gani’s assassination, Rashid sided with Sajad and they seemed ready to take the plunge into electoral politics in 2008. But Sajad changed his mind after the Amarnath land row agitation, and Rashid parted ways to contest as an Independent for the Assembly elections. His goodwill in the Langate seat helped him win, but fostered a bitter rivalry with Sajad.

In the 2014 Assembly elections, Rashid won again, on the strength of his brand of politics that put him apart from the mainstream parties and bordered separatism, thus filling a crucial middle. He built on it further with his anti-BJP and Kashmiri nationalism stand. A “beef party” thrown by him even saw a scuffle in the Assembly, with BJP MLAs, who were part of the ruling coalition with the PDP, beating him up. Rashid then demanded and hoisted the contested J&K flag at Srinagar’s Pratap Park.

In wake of separatist leader Burhan Wani’s killing, the unrest in the Valley and the collapse of the PDP-BJP government in 2018, Rashid contested from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 parliamentary elections, backed by bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal (who has since returned to his old profession). While Rashid finished third in his first Lok Sabha contest, he got over a lakh votes.

Months later, came the abrogation of Article 370, and Rashid’s arrest in an alleged money laundering case related to terror funding. The case is pending before the NIA court in Delhi.