The return of Sheikh Abdul Rashid, widely known as Engineer Rashid, to Kashmir’s political landscape has reintroduced separatist rhetoric into the mainstream dialogue.

Addressing his first public gathering in Baramulla after his release from Tihar jail, Rashid did not conceal his admiration for executed Kashmiris Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru, expressing a desire to join them in Tihar’s graveyard.

Soon after landing at Srinagar airport on Wednesday evening, he prostrated on the ground and kissed the soil as a mark of respect for Kashmir.

His return came after he triumphed over prominent figures such as Omar Abdullah of the National Conference and Sajad Lone of the People’s Conference in the Baramulla parliamentary election, fueled by a “sympathy wave”. However, accusations are swirling that Rashid is now a proxy for Delhi, aimed at creating a fractured mandate that could benefit the BJP.

While more than a million people watched his Wednesday night live address, not more than 5,000 people turned up to listen to him in Baramulla the next day. He spent much of his address and a media conference later rebuffing allegations that he was a Delhi proxy, directing his ire at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, infusing his rhetoric with separatist sentiments.

“My (Tihar) jail cell was just 150 metres from the graves of Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru. If my death also happened there, the price for us would still have been too little,” Engineer said in Baramulla. Bhat and Guru are separatist icons who were executed and later buried in Tihar jail.

Soon after his bail from Tihar jail on Wednesday, Rashid appeared to return to his favorite slogan of a referendum on Kashmir. “They (BJP) talk about PoK. Let us tell people here as well as there (in both parts of Kashmir), what they want for the resolution of the Kashmir issue. If saying that is a crime, I will say it again and again and again,” he said.

Rashid was particularly critical of Modi and Shah, asserting that Kashmiris were unafraid of their rule. He claimed his electoral victory was more significant than Modi’s in Varanasi, rallying his supporters with chants like “Modi sunn le kaun aaya, Engineer aaya”. Back came the reply “Engineer aaya, Engineer aaya (Modi listen who has come, Engineer has come).”

Some slogans raised during the rally had a distinctly separatist tone, including chants like “From Lakhinpur to Gilgit, all Kashmir is ours” and “Stop the drama and resolve the Kashmir issue”.

Rashid said Modi’s “Naya Kashmir” slogan has flopped and a vote for him was a vote against Delhi’s oppression.

He said Modi had an “ugly habit of meddling” to chime in on international issues like the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the war in Gaza to exalt his status, asking the Prime Minister not to be scared of him and allow him to enter Parliament.

The Baramulla MP and his candidates took a pledge not to betray Kashmiris by joining hands with the BJP. “If you betray people, let you be humiliated by God,” he told them.

Rashid also hinted at a return of hartaal politics in Kashmir, telling locals that a time might come when he might issue such calls to fight for their rights. He said Article 370 cannot be restored by statements made by former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti but by his brand of pro-active politics.

The BJP-led government has shown zero tolerance for all kinds of dissent after 2019, more so against separatist rhetoric. But the Centre has allowed Rashid’s party and Jamaat-e-Islami candidates to contest elections, leading to allegations they were its
new proxies.

Rashid, who heads the Awami Ittehaad Party, said his party would support the NC-Congress alliance “if it assures me about bringing a resolution seeking restoration of Article 370 in Parliament” and he would compel Modi to do it peacefully.

“My struggle will be for the resolution of the Kashmir issue and India must resolve if it wants to become a Vishwaguru,” he said.

“We are not enemies of India and not agents of Pakistan but the agents of our own conscience. I have come out to unite people, not divide them,” he said.