Srinagar, Nov 06 (HS): Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has accepted the resignation of Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi as Member of Parliament from Srinagar, with effect from November 3, according to a notification issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat. With this, the Srinagar parliamentary seat has fallen vacant.

Ruhullah posted the Speaker’s acceptance letter on X and wrote: “Operation Dehkaan. Thanks to Honourable Speaker Lok Sabha for accepting my resignation.”

“Dehkaan” is the Urdu and Persian word for a farmer. The phrase appears to echo a well-known couplet by the poet Allama Iqbal, in which the poet calls for destroying the produce of a field that does not feed the farmer who works it. Ruhullah did not explain the reference in his post.

Ruhullah announced his resignation from the National Conference (NC) and from the Lok Sabha at a large gathering at Behisht-e-Zahra Park in Budgam on Tuesday, the death anniversary of his father, Aga Syed Mehdi. He signed his resignation letter from the party in front of the crowd.

At the gathering he said he was not forming a new party but starting a “movement”, for which he would look for honest, loyal and free young people across Jammu and Kashmir. He also attacked the NC leadership, including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and party president Dr Farooq Abdullah.

Ruhullah had won the Srinagar seat on an NC ticket in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He had announced in August that he would quit the party and the Lok Sabha on November 3.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Zahoor Hussain Bhat