Akbar Lone, Kashmir’s mercurial politician with a short temper

The popular, and populist, former legislator and assembly speaker of Jammu & Kashmir often gets caught in controversies because of his comments

Former J&K minister who also served as speaker of the legislative assembly of former J&K state, Akbar Lone on September 5 submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court, saying he owes allegiance to the Constitution of India, a rare directive from the country’s top court to a politician.

National Conference Member of Parliament from Baramulla Akbar Lone, who is one of the petitioners on Article 370 case in SC, will file affidavit as required by the Chief Justice of India. “Whatever the directions of the Supreme Court are, they will be fulfilled in toto. The affidavit, as required by the chief justice, will be filed in the court before end of proceedings tomorrow,” said former chief minister and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah. (PTI)

The 77-year-old, a senior politician and close associate of National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah, was asked by the top court to pledge allegiance to the Constitution after a Kashmiri Pandit group questioned his credentials because he was one of the petitioners challenging the abrogation of Article 370, which gave special status to the former state. The petitioning group claimed Lone was a supporter of 'secessionist forces'.

The group also alleged that the Lone is a known as “a supporter of secessionist forces operating in J&K, who supported Pakistan” when he was a member of the legislative assembly from 2002 to 2018 and raised slogans like ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ on the floor of the J&K assembly.

Those who have closely watched and followed Lone’s political career say he is nationalistic but add that the old — but not necessarily wily — politician gets easily provoked; they describe him as a "short-tempered" politician who often gets caught up in controversies because of his comments.

In the last two decades, he has been elected thrice to the J&K legislative assembly on the NC ticket and served not only as a senior cabinet minister but also as the speaker of the house during the NC-Congress coalition government.

A man of controversies

On at least two occasions, Lone’s party leadership were embarrassed because of the statements he made on the floor of the house.

The first instance was during his stint as a speaker of the house in 2011 when he used abusive language against senior opposition leader Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari. It was for the first time that an exchange of that nature had taken place in the J&K assembly, shocking the legislators as well as the people in the gallery.

Although what Iftikhar said could not be heard because of the din in the house, Lone’s audible response left the whole assembly aghast.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah watched and listened silently to abusive exchange but from his gestures, it was evident he too felt uncomfortable with his language.

Lone later "regretted" what he said and urged the media not to report the exchange but the abusive video clips went viral on social media. Later, the politician told close friends that he should have never used unparliamentary language against his erstwhile cabinet colleague.

The second instance when Lone made a controversial statement was in 2018.

The PDP and BJP were running a coalition government, the BJP members blamed Rohingya Muslims for an attack on an army installation in Sunjwan in Jammu and raised anti-Pakistan slogans.

The assembly session was taking place in Jammu and NC members also started raising slogans: Lone — again shocking all who were present — raised "Pakistan Zindabad" slogans, triggering another round of condemnation.

Lone defended his stance and said he would continue doing so inside and outside the Assembly as he saw “no wrong in it” and described this as his personal view. But for the National Conference leadership it was an awkward moment especially when BJP started targeting the party’s top leadership.

“A nationalist”

Senior NC leader and district president, Sajjad Shafi, described Lone as a “staunch nationalist” leader who received frequent militant threats for speaking the truth.

"Sometimes If he gets angry, he can't control his emotions. And when he realises, he has said (something) wrong, he apologises. And when he raised slogans in assembly it was done in a fit of anger. He is as Indian as any other leader of National Conference".

Many within his party describe him as an "unguided missile" for opponents but an asset for the party who always stood by the party leadership even in the peak of militancy when everyone was afraid of speaking against militants or their supporters.

Law background and electoral popularity

Lone was a practising lawyer before joining politics. He contested assembly elections from the Sonwari constituency in north Kashmir and when insurgency started in Kashmir, he was on the hit list of not only militants but also the counterinsurgent group Ikhwan led by Kuka Parray. Lone had several narrow escapes as both militants and members of Ikhwan wanted to kill him. He was forced to migrate from his home at Naidkhai to Srinagar city where he now lives permanently.

Lone was the only mainstream politician who gave a tough fight to counterinsurgent leader Kuka Parray considered as 'de facto ruler' of Hajin and its adjoining localities in the late 90s.

However, from 2002, Lone again won three elections from Sonawari and continues to enjoy good support base in the native constituency.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he contested parliament elections from north Kashmir’s Baramulla Lok Sabha seat and won and became a became a parliamentarian for the first time.

Pervez Majeed, political analyst, said that Lone has won all the elections he fought and continues to be popular in his constituency. “It is obvious that he derives his strength from the people who chose to elect him repeatedly. For them, he is their effective representative and they do seem to be bothered by the controversies he gets involved into; rather perhaps they enjoy the attention their representative receives out of the controversies.”

Abrogation of Article 370

After the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, when most mainstream political leaders were arrested, he and NC MP Hasnain Masoodi filed the petition against the revocation of Article 370 in the Supreme Court for which judgement was reserved after hearing the arguments from petitioners and the central government.

In the aftermath of the latest controversy, Lone has stopped making statements. Political watchers say, he is grooming his son advocate Hilal Akbar to continue his political legacy in his home constituency, part of the Bandipora district.