In ‘secular’ Congress, is Hindu JKPCC President a taboo?

Will the Congress lose its sheen and secular character if a Hindu is appointed as Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) President?

- 

Will the Congress lose its sheen and secular character if a Hindu is appointed as Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) President?

Why has the Pradesh Congress Committee in this part of the country always had a Muslim President and that too predominantly from the Kashmir Valley, despite the party's once-robust base in Hindu-majority Jammu? In fact, only twice in its history has the Congress appointed leaders from the Jammu region as PCC presidents-and even then, both were Muslims: Choudhary Aslam and Ghulam Nabi Azad. Not a single Hindu leader from Jammu has ever been given the opportunity to lead the Pradesh Congress. This ‘secular’ fault line within the party, has hugely eroded the trust and confidence among its Jammu-based workers and voters, which is why the Congress performance in the 2024 Assembly elections has left many within its own ranks soul-searching for answers. Among the core grievances brewing within the Congress cadre is a decades-old question that has now reached a boiling point: