Before the Jammu Kashmir elections, the stage of Panchayat Aaj Tak Jammu Kashmir was set on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar. People’s Conference President Sajjad Lone also participated in the ‘Lone Warrior’ session of Panchayat Aaj Tak Jammu Kashmir. Sajjad Lone spoke openly on every issue, from the Jammu Kashmir assembly elections to the problems and issues of the valley.
Sajjad Lone said that Delhi is experimenting a lot in this election. Anything can happen here in the name of national interest. These elections are heavily engineered. He said that whatever noise is there is in Kashmir. There is nothing in Jammu. National parties are silent seeing the national interest. Sajjad Lone said that it is very easy to target me. I do not have any godfather in Delhi.
Engineer Rashid had defeated Omar Abdullah and Sajjad Lone from Baramulla in the Lok Sabha elections. Rashid had praised Abdul Ghani Lone after his release in Delhi. On being asked about this, Sajjad Lone said that he had only two sons. I don’t know about the rest. Wherever I have to fight, I have to fight against the National Conference. On being asked with whom he will join after the elections, he said that he will join secular parties, not communal ones. He will sit outside.
Ideology does not match with Jamaat-e-Islami
Sajjad Lone said that when someone comes to us, he says that Delhi has sent him, he goes on his own. I do not understand this. Here they have fixed a label that they will not let us progress. He said that our party is growing. Growth should be sustainable. Sajjad Lone said that we have suffered a lot, we are growing.
On Jamaat-e-Islami contesting the elections independently, he said that we have no match on the ideological level. They had voted heavily against us in the Lok Sabha elections as well. But they have seen a lot of pain. Hundreds of their leaders are in jail. They did well. On the question of whom he would like to see as CM in a post-election situation, Sajjad Lone said that we are a party that came from separatism. Our identity is with our father and we have changed his legacy so much that he did not contest elections, we do. Whatever parties have been in the mainstream, they have played a role in killing. He said that we have sat with them before as well, we will sit with them if needed. We will not go with BJP.
This is my children’s third passport
Sajjad Lone said that my father and father-in-law were both separatists. My wife is a Pakistani passport holder. In such a situation, it is very difficult to do politics. He said that this is the third passport of my children who study abroad. There was a Congress government and they did not allow my wife to come for four years. Sajjad Lone said that my passport was kept closed for four years. My wife’s visa is being extended for one month each for the last two and a half years. He said that how difficult it is to do politics, think if a statement goes awry and the grammar is wrong, then some people say – this is it, he will go like his father.
He said that when he contested the elections in 2009, a very senior leader said that agencies must have raised this issue. Referring to his book Achieving Nationhood on the Kashmir issue, Sajjad Lone said that there are solutions while keeping the geography intact, there is no dearth of them. The shortage is at the leadership level. On the question of why voters should choose your party, he said that I am a survivor myself, I know all the problems, I have received my father’s dead body. I know what this is like. I believe in decentralization of power.
I have met PM Modi thrice
Regarding the continuous attack on the National Conference, Sajjad Lone said that I remained silent for three months, I did not say anything. Farooq Abdullah gave two statements and Omar Abdullah gave two statements. If they stop giving statements, we will also stop. Omar sahab says that Engineer Rashid has been released by the BJP. Rashid sahab has come out and is targeting me. Omar sahab should now tell who the BJP is.
He said that Devendra Rana, who is Omar Abdullah’s right hand, had said that in 2014, he had a two and a half hour meeting with Amit Shah in a hotel in Delhi for negotiations. On the question of meeting PM Modi, he said that he met him three times. The first time for one hour, the second time for 20 minutes and the third time for 20 minutes. Sajjad Lone said that Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti should tell how many times they have met. His right hand Devendra Rana had said that in 2014, he had a two and a half hour meeting with Amit Shah in a hotel in Delhi for negotiations. He should tell what was discussed.
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