This is the former Chief Minister’s first interview to a foreign publication after top Kashmiri leadership recently met India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, following scrapping of the state’s special status by the government of India in August 2019.
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NewsTranscript
00:00You told Omar sahib the Indian Express that there's no indication that 370 is going to be
00:04restored by this current government. That caused a bit of a stir in Kashmir and some commentators
00:10said that it sounds as if we are being a little accommodative in the current scenario
00:15which demands a more assertive sort of leadership just like Mamata Banerjee is giving it back to
00:21them in West Bengal. So why do we say that we do not expect much from it because if we say that
00:26so we then what do we do? I mean we're not asking them for restoration or something just
00:32sort of if we give up and say well they're not going to give it then isn't that like
00:36lowering our guard a little bit? No absolutely not. I think look there are two ways to go about this.
00:43I can either fool people or then I can be honest with them. Please tell me
00:51by which convoluted logic do these commentators believe that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will
01:00return 370 having taken it away two years ago and what indicator what indications do they have
01:09on which to base this highly optimistic position? It's one thing to fight with the government of
01:14India but then fight from a position of strength. Give any one particular party a mandate to speak.
01:26I mean it's unfair for these commentators who have traditionally been
01:31supporters of boycott calls in J&K who have traditionally been against mainstream political
01:37parties to suddenly cite the example of Mamata Banerjee. The fact of the matter is that if
01:43political parties in J&K had been given a mandate like Mamata Banerjee was given,
01:505th August 2019 would never have happened. I have always been saying that look you don't
01:56like the national conference, don't support it but don't divide your vote, don't weaken your voice,
02:03choose a political party and then give it the support. You think Mamata Banerjee if she had had
02:10only one fourth of the assembly members in the assembly would be able to talk from this position?
02:16Absolutely not. She talks from a position of strength because people have given her a position
02:20of strength whereas unfortunately these commentators who are passing judgment over what I said
02:27have done nothing but weakened the legitimate voices of the people of J&K.
02:32They have put us in this position through their support for boycott calls and their
02:39sort of confused politics. Let them come out openly for the mainstream, let them come out
02:44openly for electoral politics, let them throw their weight behind a particular political party
02:49and say okay this party will represent us then give that party a two-thirds majority in the
02:55assembly and then see what we go and say. So I'm sorry individuals who have traditionally supported
03:02a separatist ideology and who have traditionally been have thrown their weight behind the boycott
03:08of elections have no business making a comparison between mainstream political parties in J&K
03:15and with Mamata Banerjee and that said in no way did we weaken our position when we went and met
03:26the Prime Minister. We were steadfast in our belief and what I said about having expectations
03:33from this government is also nothing new. If you pull out my interviews from the last many months
03:39I have always said that it is tantamount to befooling people if we go out and tell people
03:52not to say that we will not continue our struggle, we will continue our fight but we have to know
03:58where to take that fight, we have to know where to make that demand and I think
04:08sense is in choosing the right place and the right time. Please remember it took the BJP
04:1570 years and by the BJP I mean the Sangh Parivar, it took them 70 years to fulfill their agenda
04:21of abrogating article 370. Do these people, these so-called commentators,
04:27did they seriously believe that one meeting will get it back for us?