New Delhi:
NDTV: Good evening and welcome to Your Call. It's the only show on Indian television where you, the viewer, can ask your question directly to our newsmaker of the week. Tonight, joining us is someone who's a rare politician. He's politically incorrect, he never hides what he feels, and he says it like it is. Joining us tonight, Farooq Abdullah, Cabinet Minister for New and Renewable Energy.
A very interesting time for a UPA Minister to be in studio because I think top of everyone's mind is how long is this government going to last?
Farooq Abdullah: Well, this government will last its full term. I am quite confident that this is just a ripple and this will pass away.
NDTV: What do you base that confidence on Dr Abdullah, because the events don't seem to bear that out?
Farooq Abdullah: I think they have Mulayam Singhji's people also who will help us at this time. I don't think also Mamata will like to break off, because she would need Central government to make her wishes come true, by all the help she wants for her state. And you need Centre's backing in everything. I have been Chief Minister. I know how important Centre's backing is.
NDTV: Perhaps the Finance Minister, the PM should put their foot down, because then why replace Dinesh Trivedi? He, after all, is reporting to the PM and not Mamata Banerjee, as a Minister
Farooq Abdullah: I think there the PM has put his foot down till this point. But then he belongs to a party different from Congress. He is part of this consortium as I would call this and if he is he is actually representing her, and her party. I think here the tragedy comes. That if she writes and says that I would like to replace him with something else, I think it will be very difficult for the PM to say that no can't replace him, because this is where coalition comes in.
NDTV: Do you possibly feel that this could be a break point, as an ally, as a Cabinet Minister do you feel that the UPA should go this far and no further, is this demand an unreasonable one?
Farooq Abdullah: I think I would want to say that the leader of Trinamool must realise, that we all are part of India and it's in the good of India that we should all be thinking
NDTV: Does that mean standing behind the Railway Budget, with the fare hike?
Farooq Abdullah: Yes, stand by the Rail Budget.
NDTV: Like you have seen many ups and down in your political career, and now this controversy revolving around the Cricket Board Association, I have some questions on it from Muzzafar Baig, lets see what he wants to ask?
Muzzafar Baig: If he is clean as he claims to be then why doesn't he or his son agree to refer the matter to an investigation by the CBI?
Farooq Abdullah: To Baig Sahab I would like to say, he does not understand. He can't trust his own police organisation. This shows how much faith does he have in his own State, of which he himself has been Finance Minister. Two, as far as the question of the funds is concerned, as a President of the Association, I do not take funds from the BBCI, I am not informed of the funds coming in from the BBCI, the funds come directly to the General Secretary. He then directly transfers them to the Treasurer and he puts them in the bank. We come to know of it, only at the end of the year, when the Finance report is put before the Finance Committee and the General Body.
NDTV: But these are close associates of you, these are men chosen by you?
Farooq Abdullah: May be they are associates of mine. But BBCI does not send me the money, so therefore the President does not know about. Day-to-day works had to be done, teams had to go out, all this money had to be spent. We had to do that. Here was the gentleman, who gave us the money, interest free, so that the Association work could take place, a resolution had to be passed by the Board that the loan could be taken. When the loan was taken, the amount came out to be one crore ninety-two lakhs, which he in the Assembly said, Farooq Abdullah has eaten; whereas there was nothing like that. Then in the Assembly the resolution was passed that this money should now be returned, as now the accounts have been unseized by the court. Therefore we wrote to them that for God's sake here are these things in your bank, they are not matured, but till they are matured you kindly take the money. In the meanwhile you kindly pay the money to him, that he has loaned to us. Now this was the thing that was done. Now they if they blame me for it, they had blamed me earlier also for it, this guy, Muzaffar blamed me before also, that when I was the President of the J&K Muslim Board of Trust, that I was eating money from there. One year they investigated, every file, everything, they could not find a single thing where I had taken a single penny. Here also they will find, that I have taken not a single penny from the JKCA.
NDTV: A busy man, your son, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah joins us from Jammu. And Omar Abdullah, please go ahead with your question for Dr. Abdullah. He was just answering questions from Muzaffar Baig, so it's a nice contrast. But, do you sometimes wish that perhaps your father wasn't involved in cricket politics in the State?
Omar Abdullah: Do you ever wish or has there ever been a time when you'd wish that you stayed as a doctor in England and stayed away from this thankless politics?
Farooq Abdullah: Yes. Your grandfather told me when I was going to the Parliament in 1980, he told me, Son, don't join politics. Politics is a dirty game and once you are in it, you'll never be able to get out. I wish I would have listened to his advice today, because I see people, who have no intelligence at all, try to point fingers at you. When you are completely clean, they keep on rubbing this dirt hoping that someday it will stick on you. I feel sad about it because my entire efforts have been to protect the association of cricket so that my boys could play, they could become national heroes. I unfortunately failed to get into that level.
NDTV: You look depressed there Dr Farooq Abdullah, but you have also told Omar Abdullah that you didn't want him to get into politics. Is that right Omar?
Farooq Abdullah: Yes I did. But he didn't listen to me.
NDTV: Why didn't you listen to him?
Farooq Abdullah: I hope he doesn't go through the tragedies that I had to go through.
NDTV: Why didn't you listen to him Omar Abdullah, because you have also had a tough last 2 years as Chief Minister as well?
Omar Abdullah: That's okay. No regrets. I mean this - the job that I do, the responsibility that I have, it's not a bed of roses and I didn't expect that, so I have no regrets. And well, honestly, I mean, if my Dad had wanted to keep me out of politics, he was the Party President, he would have refused to sign my mandate and I would have been out. So that's the way it is. But honestly, I mean, I just want to tell my Dad to cheer up, keep his spirits up. There will be people like Muzaffar Baig who have nothing better to do in life than to attack people. We have seen that. They make personal attacks on people; they make political attacks and I am sure my Dad is made up of stronger stuff. I envv the thick skin that I have seen him have through all these years. All I can tell him is to cheer up, keep his spirits up and this too will pass.
NDTV: But Omar Abdullah, just to ask you to what Dr Muzaffar Baig was asking Dr Abdullah. Do you think, one, it's an awkward position I presume, because it's your father who is at the centre of this controversy, but do you think that it may perhaps be better if you say yes, let it go to the CBI. Let them investigate, and find out if there is anything wrong, he is ready to face it?
Omar Abdullah: No, why? I mean is something is wrong with the J&K police? What is the matter with J&K police? Are you saying that you do not trust them or do you believe that they would be dishonest? At which instance has J&K police given, through its action, this impression that they cannot bring back to before? If they bring something, even a shred of evidence pointing to something, pointing towards any misdoing on the part of Dr Abdullah or anybody like that, then sure I think my father would be the first person to say that let the CBI investigate and let the whole thing be opened up. There is not a shred of evidence to suggest any wrong doing on the part of my father. You just, I mean the only thing that the Opposition has, and they want to use, is this weapon, because clearly they have been left with nothing else.
Farooq Abdullah: I would only say good luck son.
Omar Abdullah: Thank you.
Farooq Abdullah: And keep the work going on.
Omar Abdullah: Will do.
Farooq Abdullah: You will succeed, Inshallah. You will succeed.
NDTV: Okay Omar Abdullah. Thank you so much for joining me tonight, taking time out from your busy schedule. Dr. Abdullah, do you think, because we have seen the whole sports bill for which Ajay Makhan, another fellow Minister, is trying to pilot through. Do you think perhaps some of this could be carried if politics would have just stayed out of cricket associations? Why get involved in the first place? And why are their political aides in it?
Farooq Abdullah: I got involved, because I thought I could contribute in it, I could do something. I could open doors. Now we were able to get the land in Srinagar. I don't think the others would have taken a hell of a long time. We got the land in Jammu for the cricket association to build a stadium. This would not have been possible if there wasn't something who could not have opened that door. So there are positive things that a politician can do. It's not that politicians are not needed. They are able to help. They are not there to destroy that thing. That is our effort. It is always there to improve the thing.
NDTV: But why doesn't BCCI want to come under the RTI? What's to hide?
Farooq Abdullah: Well that I do not know; that, you should ask the President of BCCI.
NDTV: Let's just move on to other people who want to ask you questions and somebody, Anupam Kher has this question to ask you.
Farooq Abdullah: He is a good friend of mine.
Anupam Kher: Before I ask him my question Sonia, I think I would like to say that Mr. Farooq Abdullah I think is one of the very rare politicians that one has met. He is full of life. He is larger than life. He is actually very approachable and he does not look like one and he conducts his life and his very real and is very helpful. My question is, what keeps him ticking, what keeps him alive as a person; means I am sure he does a lot roles, of a Minister, of a well-wisher, of a father? What is his mantra of life? What keeps him going on and on in the same manner in the so many years that I have seen him?
Farooq Abdullah: Anupam, it is the desire that I have got something to do, something good for the God's people, that I can contribute in some way in making their life better.
NDTV: It's interesting that you said that, because one of the; when you look back, some of the; one of those was a sad day when Kashmiri Pandits left the Valley. And of course Anupam Kher, do you think that Kashmiri Pandits and of course Dr Abdullah was the Chief Minister three times, do you think the Abdullah government could have done more?
Anupam Kher: Well, I don't think it is the right platform to blame any body for that; for not bringing Kashmiri Pandits. I'm sure he is a well-meaning person. But I think it is the Central Government, which can actually do much more in bringing the Kashmiri Pandits back to Kashmir. It needs a machinery which needs to work on it.
Farooq Abdullah: The saddest thing that any Kashmiri will feel is the departure of Pandits from the Valley. Kashmir will never be the same unless they come. As up here and in here; that I believe. Unless they come back, they have to come back with honour and dignity, not just put them in the bus and just bring them. They have to come with honour and dignity.
NDTV: So how will that happen?
Farooq Abdullah: We have lost something, which was never lost even in 1947, when the rest of the country was burning. There we were still holding arms and saying, all of us together, "humlawar khabardaar, hum kashmiri hain taeyaar". There was no religion. Whether you are Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Kashmiri Pandit, this thing, all stood still.
NDTV: But that changed overnight.
Farooq Abdullah: That changed because suddenly guns came in, which we never knew about. All policies were played already. They were all worked up by the other country, and the ethnic cleansing was planned there.
NDTV: But again looking back Sir, because you were the Chief Minister that time. There was that controversial 1987 election where your opponents were Separatists, charged that you and Rajiv Gandhi having rigged that election. Many say that it was a turning point.
Farooq Abdullah: I want to ask you something. If election was the turning point does that meant that the Kashmiri Pandits were to be driven out? There was something much different. The scheme was much different. They thought that by getting rid of them they would be able to capture it because it will entirely become Muslim area, forgetting that we are secular. And whatever they do, they would never be able to squeeze it out of the country.
NDTV: Would you accept that the elections were, those elections were rigged?
Farooq Abdullah: Sonia, I tell you, that I was not the one to rig it or ask for anything. My own Ministers got defeated.
NDTV: Are you blaming the Centre at that time, Rajiv Gandhi?
Farooq Abdullah: No I won't blame it on the Centre. Somebody has done it, why pin it on to me?
NDTV: But in hindsight would you think that election is a key turning point in the rise of the militancy in the Valley?
Farooq Abdullah: People keep on saying that it is a turning point, I say no. The die was cast when my father died in '82. The die was cast that the big leader is dead, now the other country started thinking, time has come. We must try and grow inside and capture the state as faster as possible.
NDTV: What's interesting Dr Abdullah was that you haven't fallen into the trap of stereotypes? You are not seen as a traditional Muslim politician. A way that we have seen politicians from the ..
Farooq Abdullah: I am a Doctor.
NDTV: Hindi heartland have become and infact, many have criticised the recent Uttar Pradesh elections; the Congress, of what they call, the pandering to the minority vote bank. How do you stay away from that trap? How do you stay away for falling into the quota politics?
Farooq Abdullah: I am a doctor. I have seen human beings in various forms. I believe God has created all of us whether you are Hindi, Muslim or Sikh, everybody. Therefore you have to remember, in a world of today, our world, we all need something good and we all need to improve. Therefore I did not fall into these stereotypes. Muslims need as much better as much as Hindu gets. There are Hindus, also, they are much down. They need to be brought up. Sikhs also.
NDTV: So do you think quotas for Muslims, quotas for minority service, that whether Salman Khurshid stretching it was a good idea or a bad idea?
Farooq Abdullah: Unfortunately, these are things that have been started from the past. And I think, this quota has created and imbalance. Some have become higher, others have gone down. I think time has come, when there should be a National Opinion taken. Have these quotas given improvement to our society or have they created further dissension, loses? I think that should be taken up. Because I feel in some places while the lower castes were very badly off, I quite understand. So they were given a security to be brought up, I agree. Good. But then there was a certain time, when it should have come to an end. It has never come to an end, so the others feel why? When I am of the same thing, he gets more and I am left out. These are things which the nation must look into, because some people have been left behind and how do you get them up to the level, so that the disparities are removed, that must be.
NDTV: Let's just go back to when your university in Jaipur where you did MBBS. We have some young students from there who want to ask you a question.
Student 1: How did you prepare for the medical exams? Did you ever cheat?
Student 2: Did you fall in love in college and how successful was it?
Farooq Abdullah: <i>Ji mujhe jo maine zindagi medical college mein guzari, main samjhta hun woh sabse behtareen zindagi ka waqt mera tha. kyunki mujhe dost mile, jo aaj bhi mere dost hain aur maine woh bhi galtiyan ki hain jo kayin logon ne galtiyan ki hain, nakal bhi ki uski saja bhi payi, aisi baat nahi hai ki maine nahi ki. Main cinema bhi kafi dekha karta tha doston k sath aur maine mohobbat bhi ki ek ladki se. Aisi baat nahi hai ki magar shaadi nahi kar saka, ishikai wajuwat hain, magar us college ne hi mujhe banaya hai. Main aaj jo kuch bhi hun, main samajhta hun mere school aur colleges ki meherbani se hai aur medical college ne mujhe insaan banaya. Main umeed yahi karunga ki khuda aap logon ko bhi us college mein insaan banaye, wahi sabse badi cheez hai. Hum doctor agar hain, toh humein insaan ki khidmat karni hai, wohi khuda ki khidmat karna hota hai. Main umeed yahi karunga ki aap jaroora zinda rahoge aur zindagi zinda dili ka naam hai, murda dil khaak jiya karte hain </i>
NDTV: When we are talking about regret Sir, one regrets greater autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir. Sir, during the NDA government when your proposal was rejected, at that time your son felt perhaps you should have pulled out; that you should be hard on that. And especially Kashmir, back to normal in so many ways, greater autonomy way seems like a pipe dream now.
Farooq Abdullah: You see autonomy is a part of that State; it is psyche of that state. When that report was made we wanted them to look at it, study it and if there was something, which they felt was not in favour of the country, would damage the country, they could have told us. Instead, they just threw it out of the window, without reading it. Now also the Interlgobal report is lying with this Government. They are not doing anything about it. I hope they do look into this and put it before the Parliament, so that the people can look into this and see how do we win the hearts of the people. That is what is needed. Because Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu all have to be kept together, so you have to see the sentiments of this entire three. And not because you don't have sentiments of one section so it is not going to work.
NDTV: But you think that it is essential now, maybe it's better to leave these things as they are. If they are going well, why actually stir it up again?
Farooq Abdullah: I think it is not going to end. I think politicians will keep on bringing this up. Let us just be frank about it. People and interested parties will keep on swinging these up and down. And therefore you have to find a way out. And the way out is, this report is there put it before the Parliament. Let us discuss it, how did it hurt us? Whatever is possible, within the parameters of the Indian Constitution, they should do. If it is not within Indian Constitution, then don't do it. It is the Indian Constitution, which is supreme.
NDTV: Finally Sir, some images of the other Farooq Abdullah, oh there is no other. You are what you are. Let's just have a look at these images of you. Farooq Sahab, as we end this show tonight, you have to sing for us. You have to sing something for our viewers out there, not so much for me. Your favorite song, I know that you are a great dancer also but I think it will be a bit odd to dance but you have to sing something for our viewers, as we end tonight.
Farooq Abdullah sings a song.