The Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference is a political party in
Jammu and Kashmir, India, founded by
Abdul Ghani Lone and
Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari in 1978. It is currently led by
Sajjad Lone. It won two seats in the
2014 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election and one seat in the
Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, also known as the Jammu and Kashmir Vidhan Sabha, is the legislature of Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Prior to 2019, the State of Jammu and Kashmir had a bicameral legislature with a ...
in the
2024 elections. The party has origins in separatism and has since shifted into being an associate of the
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...
.
History
Abdul Ghani Lone founded the People's Conference in 1977 and it was the only separatist organization registered with the Election Commission of India till 1996.
In 1993, Lone joined the secessionist Hurriyat Conference. His ideology about Kashmir was to make it an 'Independent Kashmir' after being anti-India as well as anti-Pakistan.
Lone is the son of
Abdul Gani Lone, the former
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
leader who turned into a frontline
separatist
Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...
leader. The older Lone was allegedly killed in
Srinagar
Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...
by ISI-backed militants on 21 May 2002.
Once a seasoned mainstream politician, who was first elected to the
J&K Assembly as a Congress MLA in 1967, Abdul Gani Lone was arrested for alleged anti-India activities in 1990. He was also a founder-member of the separatist conglomerate the
All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC). He also opposed foreign militants in the valley.
After his father was gunned down,
Sajjad Gani Lone remained with the Hurriyat for a while but in 2004, he revived the People's Conference party that the older Lone had launched in 1978. He also parted ways with his elder brother Bilal Ghani Lone, who continues to be part of the
Hurriyat Conference and in response Bilal disassociate itself with party and he launch his own party called Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Independent Movement as a splinter separatist faction of People's Conferenc
Political career
In 2006, Lone put forward a controversial plan, titled Achievable Nationhood, to unify the divided territory of
Kashmir
Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...
and give it
autonomy
In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be ...
. The 268-page "vision document" attempted to achieve an economically single boundary-less
Jammu and Kashmir Economic Union with
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
and
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
jointly managing defence and foreign affairs of their respective portions of Kashmir.
In 2008, at the height of the
Amarnath Shrine Board land row, Lone believed that the protests were a mass uprising against Indian rule and decided to boycott the Assembly elections.
By the 2009 general elections, he became the first frontline separatist leader to plunge into mainstream politics. Contesting as an Independent from the
Baramulla
Baramulla (), also known as Varmul () in Kashmiri, is a city and municipality of the Baramulla district of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various r ...
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...
constituency
An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
, he lost to
National Conference’s Sharifuddin Shariq.
After the 2014 general elections, Lone had a meeting with Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...
, where he referred to the PM as his elder brother.
"I came as a
Kashmiri to meet the
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
and I was pleasantly surprised with his down-to-earth personality, his vision about bringing in investments into the state," PTI quoted him as having said then.
The purpose of the meeting soon became clear that the People's Conference fielded candidates in the 2014 J&K Assembly elections, winning two seats, including Lone himself. He was made a minister from the BJP quota in the
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led PDP-BJP government, a job he was given again when Mufti's daughter Mehbooba became
chief minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...
a few months after his death.
See also
*
Politics of Jammu and Kashmir
*
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party
The Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a state political party in Jammu and Kashmir, India. The PDP was headed and founded by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. His daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, succeeded him as party leader and as chief ...
*
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front
References
{{Indian political parties
Political parties with year of establishment missing
State political parties in Jammu and Kashmir
Political parties established in 1978
1978 establishments in Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference