The Hindu : Q & A - Farooq Abdullah

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 29, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

Q & A - Farooq Abdullah

'We don't want to ally with anybody'

The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, says his first priority is to set his party's house in order. The National Conference has chosen not to align with either the Congress or the BJP in the coming election. He tells Luv Puri that the poll verdict will have a special significance for the people in the State as well as in the rest of the country since big issues are involved, including relations with Pakistan and the Centre's policies towards Jammu and Kashmir. Excerpts from the interview:

This is the first time that the National Conference is not aligned to a national party or front? You have come a long way since holding the 1983 Opposition enclave in the State.

Yes, I have decided to be neutral. The point is that we do not want to have any alliance with anybody. We want to go to the people and place before them our party's stand. The problem with forming an alliance is that we have to hand over some seats to the alliance partner. The present parliamentary elections give us an opportunity to understand the position on the ground and this is a good exercise. I won't campaign for anybody outside the State. It is also not necessary for the party to align with anybody after the elections. We will take a decision after the elections in the interests of the country, the State and the party. But this much is clear: Jammu and Kashmir is a complex problem and anybody who comes to power, whether it is Soniaji or Vajpayeeji, will have to find a solution. It is the people of this country who will decide and all other issues, including the foreign origin [issue], do not matter once the people have given the verdict.

But in the past you have aligned with the national parties.

Yes, I did try to play an important role at the national level. But look what happened in 1983. I was accused of being a Pakistani. No doubt, I got the support of Opposition parties, particularly the Left. They stood behind me.

Then what made you sign the accord with Rajiv Gandhi in 1986?

Yes, N.T. Rama Rao in Andhra Pradesh stood his ground but we were in different situations. NTR did not have Pakistan on one side and China on the other. The accord was not for power alone; it was signed keeping in mind the special circumstances of the State; it was to take the State forward. We thought that in tying up with the Centre, it would open the floodgates of development. Were the promises kept? With the same considerations, I allied with the National Democratic Alliance but were the promises kept?

Does autonomy remain the main poll plank of the National Conference?

Let me make it abundantly clear that autonomy remains the best possible solution for Jammu and Kashmir. You cannot please all but you would please the majority and it is the majority that carries the day in a democracy. The Left parties and many in the Congress have realised this point. But the NDA just threw the autonomy resolution out of the window. When they realised that they had made a mistake, they brought in K.C. Pant and after that Arun Jaitley took over. Then N.N. Vohra came and now they are talking to one section of the Hurriyat and not including the other. There would not be any gain with this kind of unclear strategy. On the one hand you are saying abrogate Article 370 and on the other you want to implement the NDA agenda.

You have also advocated the conversion of the Line of Control into an International Border as a possible solution to the problem.

There are so many solutions. In the year 1964 when Sheikh Sahib (my father) and I went to Pakistan and met the President of Pakistan, he proposed [a] confederation. Now the Deputy Prime Minister of our country [has] said the same [thing]. The same point was made on the opening of roads which our party had demanded several decades ago. But let us not miss the events happening in our own courtyard and which have ramifications for the State as well as the country. Where is the non-alignment policy which the country has pursued since the Nehruvian age?

The External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, has declared that we are not under pressure from any power; even the Deputy Prime Minister has said this. Then what I want to ask is: why is Colin Powell coming here? We have also had the British envoy coming here. What is the need for them to talk with separatist leaders? Why are they meeting army commanders here and not going to any other State of the country? Who has given them this right? We are not anybody's slaves. My message to the parties is that they have to be clear on our objectives.

Have not you isolated yourself from all national parties with your support to the J&K Permanent Resident Status (Disqualification) Bill, 2004?

Even my father would not have changed the Bill. It is to preserve the special status of the State and it was enacted by the former ruler of the State.

What about gender discrimination? Why not have the same laws for both men and women as demanded by some?

I am non-progressive as far as this issue is concerned. That is the attitude of the state. The question is that it is a tragedy of life that men continue to rule. What happened in Parliament on the issue of 33 per cent reservation for women? Men continue to think like badshahs (rulers).

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