Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi is the son of Shaheed Aga Syed Mehdi and heir to a family that has served Kashmir for over a century and a half. Three times MLA, cabinet minister and, from 2024 until he stepped down on 3 November 2026, Srinagar’s representative in Parliament, he has become one of the clearest voices for Kashmir’s constitutional rights and for the dignity of the marginalised.
Budgam · 3 November 2026For more than a century and a half, the Aga family of Budgam has served Kashmir as scholars, judges, teachers and guardians of community life, carrying a trust of service to every Kashmiri.
A Najaf-trained scholar who succeeded his father, Syed Hyder, a physician who made Budgam the family’s home. He founded the Sharia court of Budgam, where disputes were settled fairly for more than a century.
Founded the Anjuman-e-Sharie Shiyan and the Jamia Bab-ul-Ilm seminary, built the Budgam Imambara and organised welfare and education for the poor. Budgam’s main market and district hospital bear his name.
“Aga Sahab” led for two decades and worked to heal divisions within the community. His constant call: “O Muslims! Unity, unity.” Remembered as Abu Shaheedain, the father of two martyrs, among them Ruhullah’s father.
Seminaries, libraries and teachers who trained generations.
Courts of fair settlement that ordinary people trusted.
Welfare for the poor and support for families in hard years.
A steady call for harmony among all of Kashmir’s faiths.
A scholar who stepped into public life in Kashmir’s hardest decade, and gave his life on the road to serve his people.
His son, beneath his portrait · 3 Nov 2026Born in Budgam into the family’s tradition of learning and service.
Trained at Jamia Bab-ul-Ilm, earning the title Maulawi Fazil, and by the age of 22 was serving the community through the Anjuman.
Through the years of conflict, worked to secure the release of young men held in detention, and stood for election in 1996 and 1998.
Killed in a blast near Magam on his way to address a gathering, along with five others. A vast crowd of mourners accompanied him to rest at the family shrine in Budgam.
3 November is a day of remembrance in Budgam, and the day his son renews the trust he carried.
After his father’s martyrdom, he takes up public life.
01First elected to the Assembly; re-elected in 2008 and 2014.
02Selected for the US International Visitor Leadership Program.
03Science and Technology, and Animal Husbandry, until January 2015. India’s youngest cabinet minister at the time.
04Speaks for his party on the questions that define Kashmir.
05Steps down as spokesperson, insisting that special status, not statehood alone, must be the demand.
06Elected with 52.85% of the vote and a margin of 1,88,416. Takes his oath in Kashmiri.
07Constitutional rights, prisoners held without trial, minorities and fair elections.
08On his father’s anniversary, steps down from Parliament and his party to take the cause to the people.
09In 2026 he announced he would step away from Parliament and party on 3 November, the anniversary of his father’s martyrdom, and take the question of Kashmir’s constitutional rights directly to the people. On 3 November, before thousands in Budgam, he did.
“Those who speak for the rights of the people, rather than for power or political parties, make the greatest contribution to society.”