Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Tuesday said that the ‘Azadi’ sentiment in Kashmir is not over, it’s only “gone underground”.
He also said that if the leadership of the country acknowledges the hurt and humiliations inflicted on the people here, it could dramatically change the situational dynamics, as people of Kashmir are “very emotional”.
In an interview with ANI, when asked if the ‘Azadi’ concept is over, Lone said, “No, I don’t think it’s totally over. It’s gone underground… it’s scared. It was going on until you (government of India) came with a muscular policy. It was going to go away. It’s going to fade for all time to come, but muscularity has given it a longer lease of life. But in invisible ways of life, it is there, but you can’t see it. But we can feel it as Kashmiris. It’s somewhere there. As politicians, we know it’s… The tone of my interview should tell you that there is a problem.”
Asked whether he thinks it is ‘fragile peace’ in Jammu and Kashmir, Lone said that “it seems so”.
“It didn’t seem so before. But now I think it is. Before my defeat, I thought it was eternal. The defeat I had in the elections in parliament. So I think, after that, to be very honest, I do want my field. I just hope it’s total peace for all,” he added.
When asked whether the defeat in the Lok Sabha polls 2024 affected him badly, Lone said, “No, it’s not hit me badly. People have expressed. It was a vote against Delhi. It was a vote against the BJP.”
Sajad Lone fought the election from his home constituency, Baramulla, securing 173,239 votes. The election was won by independent Sheikh (Engineer) Abdur Rashid after defeating his nearest rival, former chief minister Omar Abdullah, by a margin of over 2.04 lakh votes.
In the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, Sajad Gani Lone will contest the polls from the two seats in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district. He will fight the elections from Handwara and Kupwara assembly constituencies.
In the interview, Lone also said that all the politicians of Jammu and Kashmir were brushed aside after the abrogation of Article 370.
“We do not matter. Well, post-2019, no Jammu and Kashmir politician has actually mattered. They have been put on the sidelines. It is a total bureaucracy. There is an administration bereft of any politicians. Remotely, no person elected by the people is anywhere there.”
“You won’t believe it. Even for normal functions like Republic Day functions and Independence Day functions, they don’t invite politicians anymore. So there is literally political apartheid for the last five years. For all political parties; it’s not specifically for one political party,” he said.
He stated that the BJP-ruled Centre’s decision to relegate the status of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories was the worst type of humiliation and he felt very bad about it.
“I actually, you know, believe that they should not have removed Article 370. I believe they should not have removed Article 35A. And the worst type of humiliation was relegating one of the most powerful states in India, an economically and politically empowered state in India, to a UT. And I feel very bad about it. As an inhabitant of this erstwhile state of J&K, I feel very bad,” Lone said.
He further said that when Article 370 was abrogated, they were the first party to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court while being in jail.
“I was in jail like all others when Article 370 was abrogated. From the jail, we were the first party to go and file a case in the court; you know, challenge it in the Supreme Court,” Lone added.
In August 2019, the government of India abrogated Article 370, effectively ending Jammu and Kashmir J&K’s special status and reorganising it into two Union Territories (UTs) — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Replying to a question, Lone also said “earlier it seemed that Kashmiris probably did not want to be part of India, but now it is that India does not want us to be part of them.”
On being asked what should India do, Lone replied, “Prime Minister should apologise to the people of Kashmir, and say that inadvertently may be, we might have done things which might have humiliated you, you are a part of my body as any other state we will try to rectify it give us another chance.”
He said after all the pain and humiliation that Kashmiris have been through, these “golden words” from the leader of the country (“even if for pretence”) could work wonders, “everything will be fine; Kashmiri is very emotional, very emotional, he will feel good!”
