Engineer Rashid Counters PM Modi's 'Naya Kashmir' Vision On Release From Jail, BJP Says Challenge Accepted

BJP leader Ram Madhav on Wednesday compared Engineer Rashid with National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti after the Lok Sabha MP from Baramulla walked out of Delhi’s Tihar jail on interim bail.

Madhav, BJP’s in-charge for J&K polls, was reacting to Rashid’s remark that he will fight Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s narrative of “Naya Kashmir”.

“This rank separatist, in jail for last 5 years under UAPA for indulging in anti-India activities, is out on bail to further vitiate Valley politics. Look at d language… anti-Modi rants, restoring Art 370, freeing terrorists from jails… no different from what Omar or Mehabooba or even others like Lone, of NC, PDP or PC – d Gupkar Gang – is saying. He wants to defeat Modi’s dream of Naya Kashmir. We accept d challenge. Naya Kashmir’s March will go on unrelenting,” the BJP leader wrote on X.

Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, has been in jail since 2019 following his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror funding case.

Will Fight PM’s ‘Naya Kashmir’ Narrative: Rashid

Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid walked out of Tihar Jail on Wednesday, a day after a Delhi court granted him interim bail till October 2 in a terror funding case so that he can campaign in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls.

Talking to reporters outside the jail, he said that he would continue to fight for his people. Rashid’s sons and supporters welcomed him after he walked out of the prison.

“He was released from jail at 4.15 pm,” said a senior prison official.

Rashid defeated former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Baramulla. Rashid’s outfit Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) is contesting the assembly elections.

“I was in jail for five-and-a-half years. I am committed to fighting for my people. I am coming back to unite people and not divide them,” he told reporters outside Tihar.

“I want to bring everlasting peace to Kashmir and prove that Kashmiris are not stone pelters. But we will not compromise with our political rights,” he said, adding, “I will fight the prime minister’s narrative of Naya Kashmir.” National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said Rashid has been granted bail to fetch votes from the people of Kashmir and not to serve them.

About People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti describing Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party as a proxy for the BJP, Abdullah said while he was being very cautious on the issue, “it is good that she has stated openly what many people were thinking”.

Lashing out at Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, Rashid on Wednesday alleged that they have “destroyed” Kashmir.

Polling for Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in three phases — September 18, September 25 and October 1. The results will be declared on October 8.

Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh ordered Rashid’s release on interim bail on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and a surety of the like amount. He also imposed certain conditions on him, including that he would not speak to the media about the case.

(With PTI inputs)