Interview: No rift, say Farooq, Omar

A day after National Conference emerged the single largest party in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, former state chief minister Farooq Abdullah rejected all speculations of a rift within the party and named his son and National Conference President Omar Abdullah the party's chief ministerial candidate.

In this exclusive interview with CNN-IBN's Suhasini Haidar, both Farooq and Omar Abdullah stated emphatically that there was no rift within J-K's first family.

Suhasini Haidar: With the Congress making it clear that it would prefer a coalition with the National Conference - the single largest party in the Jammu and Kashmir elections - it is obvious that one of the leading men of the National Conference is going to chief minister. Omar, who is going to be the next Chief Minister of the state?

Omar Abdullah: Well, to be honest with you, this question would not have arisen if we had received a verdict from the people to form a government of our own. That didn't happen and now clearly we need to sit down and our legislative party needs to discuss the entire aspect of what is happening. We also need to take into account what our possible coalition partners have to say on the matter. As far as I am concerned, Dr Abdullah was the National Conference's chief ministerial candidate and he is still the National Conference's chief ministerial candidate, but obviously that is something that I cannot decide. It's something that our legislative party has to talk about and our coalition partners too.

Suhasini Haidar: But Dr Abdullah you are ready to be chief minister despite the misgivings that you had earlier about heading a coalition rather than your own government.

Farooq Abdullah: No. In the night I had a think about this and I think that the time has come when I will recommend to my own party that we should have a younger man, because the work is hard and there is a lot to be done and I think that it is time that I should really build the party. I feel the party is really important. We have lost ground in some of the areas, some areas were completely wiped out and that shows that the party needs regrouping and needs to be realigned. And that is what I have been thinking that I should really devote my time to party work and that the government work should be handed over to a younger man. I think I will recommend to the party that Omar should be considered for the chief ministerial candidature.

Suhasini Haidar: Well, the fact that the two of you are standing together means that you are really on the same stage as far as the decision goes, but there have been many reports about problems between the father and the son, the first family of Kashmir many say is divided. What do you say to this?

Farooq Abdullah: I think that this is basically created by the media. He is my flesh and blood and I don't think I have any problems. In thinking we might have some differences, but in working we don't have any differences. I have always stood by him and I will continue to stand by him. And I think that he would be the right man, honestly, looking at the situation as it is. We need a younger man to run on these hills and I accept that and I think that I need a wider canvas. I have always felt that I should play more of a role in the national politics than in state politics. I think the time has come when I can do much more on a larger horizon that on just only a state horizon. I spoke to Omar in the morning and I think that he has reluctantly accepted the fact that this is the right decision.

Suhasini Haidar: Many still say that the senior leadership in the National Conference want Dr Abdullah to be chief minister just to keep the party together. There is a fear that the PDP might actually gain if there is you and not Dr Abdullah at the helm of affairs. Are you quite confident that you can keep the party flock - both the seniors and the juniors - together?

Omar Abdullah: Well let me first address the point of differences that you raised. I think that the only way to explain it is that the differences - if there are any - are in style and not in substance. We both want the same things for the state, we both want the same things for the party, we both want the same things for the people and we will both work as allies towards our dreams and aspirations.

As far as the party is concerned, I have run it for more than six years now. We have both withstood tremendous challenges. The fact that we stood Mufti Sayeed's populist agenda government for as long as we did without breaking down, the fact that the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road opened up inspite of Mufti's propaganda campaign on POTA, on the Special Task Force and a whole host of other issues - if the National Conference today is still the single largest party, it is because dad and I have been able to give a sense of security to our workers, it is because we have been able to take the party through these difficult times and I have no doubt that as long as I have dad there with his advice, with his suggestions and his gentle nudging in the right direction, the old guard and the young guard will all work together to realise the mission that we have.

And as far as the broader canvas for dad is concerned, it's not just a national canvas. I mean, he has an international canvas which he has to paint on. Jammu and Kashmir is going through an extremely difficult phase both internally - which the government will hopefully be able to work on - and even internationally. Today, with tensions rising between India and Pakistan, the direct fallout of those tensions are on Jammu and Kashmir. The more tense it is, the worse it is for Jammu and Kashmir. The better it is, things are better here for us. And clearly, I would like to see dad play a role in bridging the differences between India and Pakistan, in bringing about some sort of reconciliation between the two countries so that we can actually put an end to this problem that we call the issue of Kashmir.

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Suhasini Haidar: We saw a massive turnout at elections this time, yet this turnout landed up with a hung verdict in the end. Have you been able to analyse at all, which way people did decided to vote?

Omar Abdullah: I haven't actually been able to go through the figures right now. I think there is more than one reason. One reason is the mushrooming of candidates. There was hardly a constituency which did not have candidates in double figures. Even Srinagar - a completely urban constituency - had more than 30 candidates and everybody knows somebody and they are all going to have people vote for them and that's going to have an impact on the results. Then there are aspirations of the youth which the new government is going to face. How do you realise economic aspirations, for other opportunities. Then part of it was probably an anti-incumbency vote against the government and part of it is another one of those political phenomenons that we see.

Suhasini Haidar: But two seats in Srinagar had one candidate and that was you Dr Abdullah. Many said that it was because Dr Abdullah had lost his touch and that he was not sure that he was going to win from one constituency. What do you have to say to that Dr Abdullah?

Farooq Abdullah: He (Omar) forced this over me and I could not say no to him.

Omar Abdullah: I think that I have to put this in perspective. We were always sure that he would fight and win from the Hazratbal constituency. The reports that we were getting about Sonwar were mixed. I had a very good, hardworking and honest MLA, but an MLA who had a very indifferent health. I was worried that if we fielded the same MLA again - even though I had personally nothing that could go against him - then we were in danger of gifting away the seat to our opponents on a platter and since I had already fought from Ganderbal and the reports from there were favourable, I thought that if I fight from Sonwar, the opponents would take that as sign of weakness from Ganderbal and raise a propaganda campaign against us. Therefore I could only turn to the best candidate that was available to me and that was doctor sahab and he was not happy in all fairness.

Farooq Abdullah: The old horse.

Suhasini Haidar: You call yourself an old horse, yet in this campaign we saw both of you really come out after six years and come back after having lost in the last elections. How does it feel?

Farooq Abdullah: It feels wonderful and I feel really very happy. I think we have to do introspection about what happened, what were the reasons, so that we don't face the same thing again. Also I am happy that Omar won the Ganderbal seat.

Suhasini Haidar: We went with Omar to Ganderbal yesterday. There are huge expectations from you and from your constituency. They seem to want to forget that they ever defeated you there. Was your decision to go back to Ganderbal a conscious one? Many had said that perhaps you should chose a safer seat.

Omar Abdullah: It was a conscious decision, but it was an emotional one and not a political one. If it was a political decision, I would have chosen a safer seat, but it's an emotional attachment that I have with Ganderbal. My grandfather has represented that seat, my father has represented that seat. I felt that I owed the people of Ganderbal and that if they gave me an opportunity, I will be able to deliver. Part of it I think in all fairness was ego. I had lost there and I come from a school whose motto is never give in and I had no intentions of giving up - so yes, it was gamble, it was a risk but fortunately the people of Ganderbal stood behind me like a rock and I won with a 8,000 vote margin which is good on any given day.

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Suhasini Haidar: It was also a risk to have Dr Abdullah out there making all those campaign speeches. I remember one speech that you made where you talked of beating up anyone who threw a stone in the procession and we were wondering if that was a good thing. Tell us Dr Abdullah do you think that in all of this, it is your ability to go out there and say the unthinkable that perhaps has led to many saying now that we should perhaps pass on the mantle.

Farooq Abdullah: No, I think that in all sincerity this state needs to change. I think with Omar's experience with the Central Government and the world over, it's going to come in real handy. He is going to have to solve a lot of problems - the foremost and the biggest being employment and development. And I am sure that he will be able to do that. I hope that he gets a team which will stand by him and help him put that plan into action.

Suhasini Haidar: Many say that it is the Congress which has said that it has a preference to work with Omar Abdullah. Is that also another reason for this decision?

Farooq Abdullah: No, that was not a concern.

Suhasini Haidar: Are you on good terms with the Congress?

Farooq Abdullah: I have never been on bad terms with anyone, any party. I have always thought never close the door, you never know who you have to work with.

Suhasini Haidar: You were a chief minister with the NDA.

Farooq Abdullah: No, I was chief minister with the Congress as well. There is no question of bad terms. And now, one has to think the best for the state.

Suhasini Haidar: Omar many say that it is your relationship with Rahul Gandhi that has been the key in perhaps bringing the two parties closer together. Is that important and do you feel that will help you in this coalition?

Omar Abdullah: First and foremost there has been no indication from Congress that they would not like to see Dr Abdullah as the chief minister. If any such indication had come from the Congress, I would be the first person to walk away from this coalition because clearly we will decide that and we need the coalition to fall behind that.

As far as Rahul is concerned, yes he is a friend of mine, but no, politics does not form a part of our relationship. We have very seldom, if ever discussed politics - especially politics in Jammu and Kashmir. So contrary to what some of the news media have reported I have not had a conversation with Rahul about what is happening in Jammu and Kashmir. That is not to suggest that I won't. But as of now, I haven't.

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Suhasini Haidar: We always talk of dynastic politics but perhaps we are seeing dynastic politics of a whole new level here. First there was Sheikh Abdullah and Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, then there was you and Rajiv Gandhi and now perhaps we will see Omar Abdullah and Rahul Gandhi together. How does that make you feel?

Farooq Abdullah: I feel very happy. I think it's a very good thing that the family ties have remained.

Omar Abdullah: I think that we need to avoid this presumptuous note that everything is signed and sealed and delivered. There has been no formal communication with Congress as yet. At some point and time doctor sahab and I are going to have to travel to Delhi, establish communication with Congress and try and get them on board. The last thing that we need to do is give the impression that this thing is signed and sealed and delivered. Till someone has taken the oath, that is not the case. The only thing that you have seen is that the National Conference has got its own house in order. We now need to bring in the numbers which is to talk to the Congress and try and convince them that the National Conference offers the best possible opportunity for a clean, stable and meaningful government in the state.

Suhasini Haidar: Well certainly the National Conference and the Congress together are 45 seats and you don't really need much more to form a government in the state. Have you already been in touch with the Congress?

Omar Abdullah: As I said, on a formal note no. On an informal note, one of the greatest advantages that I have with my dad is that he has excellent personal relations cutting across party lines. Even though we don't see eye-to-eye with the NDA and we possibly never will, there is hardly a leader in NDA who doesn't have a good personal relationship with my father and the same goes for Congress. We have friends in Congress who have been talking to us, friends with whom we have initiated contact with, friends who have initiated contact with us. There has been no formal communication between Congress and us yet. Clearly we are waiting for all the results to come in and we all have a chief ministerial candidate to take to the Congress party.

Suhasini Haidar: And that's you?

Omar Abdullah: Well yes. Well, we will take this to the legislative party, which will hopefully endorse this and we will then establish formal communication with the Congress party in New Delhi and ask them to form some sort of an alliance with us.

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Suhasini Haidar: The PDP has actually increased its vote share and share of seats. You can't really say that the PDP has lost this election. They might really stake a claim to form this government as well.

Omar Abdullah: Well, they are welcome to stake a claim, I have no problem with that. At the end of the day, the Congress is going to decide who forms the government and I think the parameters that Congress has to keep in mind are whether they have had a decent working relationship with PDP, will PDP continue to play populist politics with Congress as it has in the past. The Congress can then arrive at its own decision.

Yes, the PDP has increased its vote share and this is something that we need to look at a little more seriously. Having said that, the National Conference has not lost seats to PDP. We have suffered an erosion largely on the Jammu side, which we need to look at. The PDP's gains have largely been at the cost of independence and not at the cost of the National Conference and that's an important factor to keep in mind. And also, another thing is that all senior PDP leaders have lost - infact all seniors in Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's government and Ghulam Nabi Azad's government have all lost, which clearly shows the governance that they were delivering as they could not get any of their cabinet ministers re-elected.

Suhasini Haidar: In the election campaign, you had actually said Dr Abdullah that the PDP was getting the support of separatists, particularly the Jamaat-e-Islam. Should you not be giving the PDP credit surely for bringing so many separatists into the mainstream?

Farooq Abdullah: The thing is not that they were trying to bring separatists into the mainstream. It was just to beat us. The separatists issue still remains and the PDP is on the backfoot if you see their manifesto. It is not a nationalist or a secularist manifesto. It is very one-sided.

Omar Abdullah: If the PDP can bring separatists into the mainstream, then nothing like it. But what you saw was not PDP bringing separatists into the mainstream, it was the hypocritic politics of the separatists. They were simply being hypocrites. In areas where it suited them they would give a boycott call and in areas where it suited them they would encourage their supporters to come out and vote. We want to see from the separatists, an actual involvement in mainstream politics and clearly that is something that we would like to work towards.

Suhasini Haidar: Omar there are many processes left in your becoming a chief minister, but many are now talking of a reconciliatory role of the Jammu and Kashmir government. This basically is the time to bring separatists into the mainstream fold. Is that something which you see as a task ahead?

Omar Abdullah: Certainly. I think that the high turnout of the people in these elections needs to be rewarded by the government both in terms of governance and in terms of political initiatives. And that's something that we would be looking towards, working with the Government of India to bring separatists if not into the mainstream, at least back into the dialogue process.