Anantnag: While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in many parts of Kashmir celebrated, danced and hoisted the Tricolour on Wednesday on the first anniversary of Article 370 abrogation, three among them resigned from the party in Kond village of Kulgam district after “apologizing” to the people of the area.
Their resignation came hours after a BJP affiliated Panchayat member, who was also the Vice President of the party for Kond, was shot at and critically injured by suspected militants Tuesday evening. The 32-year-old Panch, Arif Ahmad Shah, is battling for life at SKIMS in Srinagar.
Following the shootout, visibly worried for their lives, Sabzar Ahmad Padder, vice president of the Devsar constituency, Nisar Ahmad Wani, president for the Devsar constituency and Ashiq Hussain Palla, a worker resigned from the basic membership of the party.
The trio also tendered an apology asking people to forgive them for their mistakes, if any.
Padder told Kashmir Reader that the decision was personal and taken due to domestic circumstances.
“We are poor people and have to keep our families fed. By indulging in politics we were making our families suffer. We do not want our families to starve, so we have resigned from the party,” he told Kashmir Reader.
Attempts to reach Wani and Palla proved futile as their phones were switched off.
Sources in the BJP, however, maintained that the three of them resigned because of the threat to their lives.
“They felt their life was in danger after the attack yesterday and hence have decided to resign,” a party insider said.
This is the second attack since last month when a prominent youth leader of the saffron party, his father and his brother were shot dead in Bandipora district of north Kashmir.
Following the killings, a few BJP workers resigned in north Kashmir.
BJP General Secretary, Ashok Kaul, had then said that, “the people resigning had come from other parties for vested interests”.

Suhail A Shah