After LS polls debacle, Shia leader Imran Ansari blasts his supporters

Srinagar, Jun 19 (PTI) A video of a Shia leader in Kashmir apparently angry with his supporters after his party’s debacle in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls has gone viral on social media.

The 19-second video of Shia leader Imran Reza Ansari, the general secretary of the People’s Conference, has gone viral on social media and received harsh comments.

The People’s Conference is headed by separatist-turned-mainstream politician Sajad Gani Lone.

Lone contested the polls from north Kashmir’s Baramulla Lok Sabha seat, but his party was routed in the elections.

Independent candidate Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid, who is in jail on terror funding charges, won the seat. National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah stood at the second place and Lone came a distant third.

Apparently miffed over his party’s performance in the polls, Ansari is seen talking angrily to his supporters in the video.

“I swear upon the grave of my father, I want to tear apart my clothes today. I was in an exalted position, you made me bite the dust,” a visibly angry Ansari told his supporters in Kashmiri.

Ansari also angrily threw a cup of tea, which he was offered and then goes on to shout at an elderly supporter.

The People’s Conference could only manage a lead on a single assembly segment Handwara — out of 18 in the Lok Sabha seat.

The party even trailed in Ansari’s own assembly segment Pattan where the National Conference candidate took the lead.

However, All Jammu and Kashmir Shia Association said that it was an old video and not related to the elections.

“It’s an old video (Chinabal Pattan) showing religious mediation between two parties, one of which refused to comply,” the Shia Association said in a post on X.