Sajad Lone: Won’t contest if INDIA bloc commits to restoring Article 370

PTI

Srinagar, April 27

Challenging the abrogation of Article 370 in the Supreme Court might have been a mistake but not doing so would have made things worse politically for the mainstream parties of J&K, Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone has said. The separatist-turned-mainstream politician, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from the Baramulla seat, said the National Conference was “fooling” the people by talking about restoring J&K’s special status. Noting that the NC was a constituent of the INDIA bloc, Lone said if the party gets the opposition grouping to publicly commit to restore Article 370, he wouldn’t contest polls. The apex court in December last year upheld the Centre’s August 5, 2019 decision to abrogate Article 370, which bestowed a special status on the erstwhile state of J&K.

‘NC fooling people’

According to Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone, the National Conference has been fooling people by talking about restoring the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

Moving SC a mistake?

• When asked whether approaching the top court was a mistake as the verdict left almost no chance of getting the special status back, Lone says, “Mainstream parties in Kashmir could have worked together and said let us save it for a rainy day.”
• At the same time, he claims, “Had the mainstream parties of the UT stayed away from taking legal recourse, it would have made things worse politically for them.”

In an interview, Lone said the Centre could have propped up anyone to take the case to the apex court had the mainstream parties stayed away from taking legal recourse. “I do not know, it could be,” Lone said when asked whether approaching the court was a mistake as the verdict has left almost no chance of getting the special status back.

“You see we (mainstream political parties in Kashmir) could have worked together and said let us save it for a rainy day. But, that could not have stopped somebody else from going to the Supreme Court,” he added. Lone said the Centre could have propped anyone to take the case to the court and had the mainstream parties in Jammu and Kashmir stayed away from taking legal recourse, it would have made things worse politically for them.

“Say tomorrow, they select someone to go to the court... getting a court judgement is not that difficult. Our staying away would have made things worse politically for us at home. “But, saying that there could not have been a judgement had we not gone to the court is not true either, they (Delhi) could ask a person to go to the court,” he said.

Lone, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from north Kashmir's Baramulla constituency, said he understands the importance of Parliament in the backdrop of what happened on August 5, 2019.

He said he believes that the voices of the people of Jammu and Kashmir should resonate in Parliament.

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