Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, the National Conference (NC) member of the Lok Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir, announced on Friday, 28 August 2026 that he will resign from both the party and Parliament in November, citing irreconcilable differences over the NC's political position on Jammu and Kashmir's constitutional future. The announcement, made through a detailed letter to NC president Farooq Abdullah, marks one of the most significant internal ruptures within the party in recent years.

What Prompted the Decision

Mehdi's letter drew directly on remarks made by Farooq Abdullah on 25 August 2026, in which the NC chief reportedly said: 'How long will you be a slave? You have to stand on your feet sometimes. When will you stand?' Mehdi said those words captured the frustration many in Jammu and Kashmir feel — but also, in his view, exposed a fundamental contradiction in the party's own conduct.

He argued that the NC's acceptance of statehood as the ceiling of its political ambition was indistinguishable from the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) position, effectively legitimising the constitutional changes of August 2019 that stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and divided it into two Union Territories.

The Manifesto Charge

At the heart of Mehdi's grievance is what he describes as a deliberate betrayal of voters. The NC had promised restoration of Articles 370 and 35A in its 2024 election manifesto, despite the BJP being in power at the Centre — a promise Mehdi now questions was ever seriously intended.

'This demotion to statehood is opposed to the grand promises of restoration of Articles 370 and 35A that we came to power with. If so, then this is not merely a political misjudgment. It is a sin, a brazen moral failure of deliberately misleading an entire population,' Mehdi wrote in his letter.

He said he wanted no share in what he called a 'lie' and accused the party of adjusting its aspirations to whatever the BJP was willing to concede, rather than fighting for constitutional guarantees.

On Youth, Land, and Resources

Mehdi also pointed to the economic and demographic stakes of the political impasse. 'Nearly 65 per cent of Jammu and Kashmir's population is young, and their future is increasingly uncertain, with no jobs and opportunities. Our land is up for grabs. Our resources benefit everybody but us,' he wrote.

He stressed that Article 370 represented not just a constitutional provision but the struggle to restore dignity, honour, and the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Personal History and Internal Pressure

Mehdi also pushed back against any suggestion that he owed his political career entirely to the NC. He reminded Abdullah that it was the NC president who had personally invited him into the party. 'Perhaps that is precisely why I never had to ask to be a part of the NC. You personally invited me into it,' he wrote.

He added that he had become the target of a coordinated campaign of rebuke within the party following his public statements, a claim that points to deepening factional tensions inside the NC.

What Comes Next

With Mehdi's resignation from both the NC and the Lok Sabha scheduled for November, speculation is already mounting that he may launch a new political platform. His departure would leave the NC without one of its more vocal parliamentary voices on the Article 370 question, and could galvanise a segment of J&K's electorate that feels the mainstream regional parties have made their peace with the post-2019 constitutional order.