Waheed Para's Politics Of Presence

By Arsalan Reshi

Pulwama's Naira village might seem too small to matter in politics. Its lanes and landscape rarely draw attention. Still, from this corner of Kashmir, Waheed Ur Rehman Para, known simply as Waheed Para, has emerged as one of the region's most visible young politicians.

His rise is instructive. It reflects both the promise of personal connection and the stark limits of political authority in post-2019 Kashmir.

The revocation of Article 370 shattered old power networks and intensified central oversight. Political legitimacy is constantly questioned. In this landscape, presence matters.

Waheed's detractors in dozens and diehards in droves say his appeal lies in accessibility.

Residents describe being able to reach him for wage disputes, bureaucratic hurdles, or local grievances. Social media amplifies his reach, making him a bridge between citizens and the system.

His rise is methodical, if not meteoric.

Joining the People's Democratic Party in 2013, he became a political analyst to Chief Minister Mufti Syeed and later Secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council.

These positions offered networks, measurable achievements, and a reputation for getting things done. Electoral contests proved more complicated.

Against Aga Ruhullah, a three-time MLA, Waheed won over 100,000 votes yet lost, swept aside by anti-incumbency.

Later, he secured an Assembly seat by ten thousand votes, a victory that highlights both personal credibility and the unpredictable post-2019 political terrain.

In the Assembly, he challenges both opposition and government.

He raises issues on reservation policies, daily wage workers' rights, and files Private Member Bills, often rejected.

Such initiatives reveal ambition and responsiveness, but they expose the limits imposed by central oversight and official inertia.

Influence exists, but only in fragments.

Waheed blends field visits with online engagement, projecting responsiveness. Some of this is performative, carefully staged for a mediated audience.

Observers note the effectiveness is uneven. Tangible results coexist with the appearance of action. Constituents, however, often experience these interventions as real, demonstrating that presence alone can partially compensate for systemic gaps.

Waheed's politics also marks a generational shift.

He belongs to a cohort balancing activism, mainstream politics, and governance. These leaders operate in tension: visible enough to earn trust, active enough to energize younger voters, but constrained enough to reveal systemic deficiencies.

The gap between expectation and delivery, between effort and institutional limits, defines their work.

The tension shows up most clearly in how people rely on him. They turn to Waheed for everything from local disputes to survival problems. His help often makes a real difference, but it also exposes the weaknesses of a system that struggles to meet basic needs.

Every success proves his effectiveness, and the limits of what a single legislator can actually accomplish.

Even then, Waheed Para embodies the contradictions of the current political landscape. Personal credibility matters more than party machinery, but visibility does not translate into structural change.

Watching his career offers insight into what influence looks like in a place where power is tightly held, authority is centralized, and local politics operates in shadows and margins.

Waheed Para is both a product and a participant of this new terrain.

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