G N Ratanpuri

Early years

He was born on 5 March 1954 in Ratnipora of Pulwama District, Jammu and Kashmir to an affluent local merchant. Ratanpuri belongs to the Wani caste. His great Grandfather is said to have migrated to Ratnipora from Zainadar Mohalla, Srinagar district. Ratanpuri received his early schooling from a local school and then graduated from the University of Kashmir in the year 1976. After graduation Ratanpuri joined a leading Urdu Newspaper Daily Aftaab as Assistant Editor and continued to work with the paper till 1979. In year 1979 at a very young age he was appointed as the editor of another leading newspaper of the times, Nawa-e-Subh published by the then ruling party Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. In a short span of time Ratanpuri was able to create a place for himself in the organisation, and thus came very close to Chief Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. He joined All India Radio at Srinagar in the year 1981 after being selected by the Union Public Service Commission as a Programme Officer, but continued to work for Nawa-e-Subh till the death of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. By the year 2000 he had become the most celebrated interviewer in the State of J&K.

Entry into Politics

In 2004 Ratanpuri's casual meet with Omar Abdullah then a Member of Parliament, turned into a close friendship. Ratanpuri was instrumental in the victory of Omar Abdullah in the Lok Sabha Elections of 2004. In 2008 Omar Abdullah asked Ratanpuri to contest elections from his party J&K National Conference. As a result, Ratanpuri had to seek premature retirement and contested the Assembly Elections, though unsuccessfully, but still remained a prominent figure in the ruling party due to his proximity with Omar Abdullah, and in July 2009, was nominated to the upper house of the Indian Parliament (Rajya Saba), to which he was elected in August 2009. As a Member of Parliament he was the member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour, Parliamentary Forum on Children and the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for HRD Minintry. Presently he is the Senior Vice President of the J&K National Conference for South Kashmir.

Differences with his Party and coming into Limelight

Ratanpuri came to limelight in the State of J&K after the Turmoil of 2010 which left 125 young men dead. He openly opposed the policies of his Government often criticising Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister of the State for his inexperience leading to the creation of a void between the relations of Ratanpuri and Omar Abdullah.

The differences between Ratanpuri and his party particularly Omar Abdullah were given a boost by a small incident that happened at Pulwama. The Superintendent of Police at Pulwama misbehaved with Ratanpuri and Ratanpuri was all fire against his party for not taking any action against the Police Officer concerned. The indifference of his Government forced Ratanpuri forced him to file a Breach of Privilege Motion against the Police Officer before the Privileges Committee of the Rajya Sabha. During the proceedings of the Privilege Committee, the Director General of Police J&K and the Chief Secretary were called in person to New Delhi, and the proceedings finally culminated into tendering of an unconditional apology by the Director General of Police J&K, the Chief Secretary and the Superintendent of Police at Pulwama.

Ratanpuri remained in news for quite some time in March 2013 after he met the fire brand Hurriyat Leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani at the latter's New Delhi residence, where Geelani was under continuous detention for weeks together. Ratanpuri was instrumental in release of the Veteran Hurriyat Leader from house arrest after Ratanpuri met the Union Home Minister S. K. Shinde and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and demanded Geelani's release. Interestingly Geelani was released with 24 hours after Ratanpuri's meet with the two Union Ministers.

Ratanpuri again dominated the front pages of Newspapers in the valley after he called the founder of his party, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah a man of Flaws, Failures and Fallacies. This did not go well within the party and a war of words started between Ratanpuri and Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, son of Sheikh Abdullah. However, given the popularity of Ratanpuri in South Kashmir, the Ruling National Conference chose to remain silent on the issue fearing loss of vote bank.

He is the first Member of Parliament from the State of J&K to have Filed a Privilege Motion against the Public Functionaries of the state, raised the Kashmir Dispute on the Floor of the Indian Parliament, disrupted the address of the President of India to both houses of the Parliament and raised the issue of hanging of Afzal Guru.

After the hanging of Afzal Guru, Ratanpuri often criticised his Governments inactions and wrong policies, thereby turning him into an outcast in his own party. Though his actions were widely appreciated by the Civil Society of Kashmir and people at large but things were not well within his party. The Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah also chose to ask him to leave the party, but took no action for his removal.

Ratanpuri was very vocal in the Parliament with regard to the Kashmir issue. During the Joint session of the Parliament in early 2013, Ratanpuri rose to disrupt the address of the President of India holding black placards in both hands, demanding return of the mortal remains of Mohammad Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru.