'They will die like Hitler died,' J&K former CM Farooq Abdullah roars against BJP

Thiruvananthapuram: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah's anger and frustration at how the BJP-led Centre has used war as means of political mobilisation, how it has pitted people against people for votes and how all of this have destroyed the lives of his own people found intense expression at the concluding session of the three-day Vision 2031 seminar organised by Kerala Planning Board in Thiruvananthapuram.

"How long are we going to bleed? How long is the progress of Jammu and Kashmir going to be at the mercy of our neighbour? Do you ever think? Do you even ponder how we live?" Abdullah said in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, referring to the sustained tension at the border. "War is not the solution. We have had four wars, and the line (Radcliff Line that arbitrarily divided India and Pakistan) is still there," he said.

Apart from wars, he said, Jammu and Kashmir was also the victim of the India-US trade pact. "After the recent agreement with America, we are frightened. We don't have oil, we don't have gas. They have not explained to this day what this agreement is," Abdullah said. "We are horticulture producers. What will happen to our apples? To our walnuts? To our almonds? We don't have industry as you have, and it is very difficult to invite industries to our state with the crisis we have with our neighbour," the former Chief Minister said.

The National Conference leader said it was time to call the bluff of fascist forces. "We are passing through a grave period," he said. There will be no recovery, he said "unless we together, in India, realise that the fascist forces that are trying to divide us just to win seats".

Abdulla hinted that the country is being robbed of its pluralism. "I thought every religion has the right to the Constitution of India, to be able to practice, preach," he said. He warned of incremental exclusion. "Muslims first, Christians next, Sikhs third." "They want one language from north to south to east to west. Is that India? Is that even possible," he said.

When he spoke of the bond that unites cultures as different as Kashmir and Kerala, the nonagenarian leader's voice cracked. "What unites us," he asked. "I don't understand your language, you don't understand mine. Your culture is very different to my culture. My habits are different from yours. Still what is it that unites me with this nation, I always ask myself" he said.

And the answer he mined from himself: Hope in togetherness. "It is that hope that we can all progress together, by holding hands with each other," he said. And when he spoke of hope, he choked. It was a stifled cry of both defiance and despondency. "That is the hope that I will have till my dying day, that the fractious forces will not succeed. They will die like Hitler died," he said.

And after a long pause during which he breathed heavily and tried hard to keep his emotions in check, he said: "And all his ambitions of being master of the universe disappeared."

Dr Abdullah spoke of the "lie" the BJP used to revoke Article 370. "They said that Article 370 created terrorism. That was their main factor, forgetting that the Sangh Parivar had opposed it tooth and nail the day it was bestowed on Jammu and Kashmir. They blew this drum (that 370 spawned terrorism) all over the nation, and you bought it," he said.

"Now I ask you, from August 2019 (when 370 was revoked) has terrorism disappeared? Have you forgotten Pulwama, where 40 of our brave soldiers died? Have you forgotten Pahalgam? Have you forgotten Udhampur? Katra?," he said.

The former J&K Chief Minister wanted India to know this. "We are a Muslim majority state, but we are proud Indians, and we will remain that. Let this be drilled into everybody of this nation," he said.

Pride was mixed with a certain sense of helplessness. "I took this journey, ninety years of age, to tell you think of us. Pray for us so that we can get out of the tragedy we are facing in the North," he said.

Abdulla sounded displeased even with his God. "Thank God South is still free, and I hope it remains free, and develops and gets stronger. We get strength from you. We look at you, and we say to ourselves, Oh Allah, when you wake up so that we can also walk freely, talk freely, think freely. That's what democracy was. Of the people, for the people, by the people," he said.