Townships Exclusively for Pandits Will Create Hatred, Everyone Should Live Together: Farooq Abdullah to NDTV

On The Buck Stops Here, National Conference President Farooq Abdullah speaks to NDTV in his first interview since his return to political action after prolonged illness. At a time when separatists are back in the headlines, he said that they were trying to create space for themselves. He urged separatists not to "divide people" or "create such a situation that this state burns". On the controversy over taxpayers' money being spent on separatists, Mr Abudllah said that it is being done in the hope that one day they will join the mainstream. "It's a painful process" to get separatists into the mainstream, "but it has to be done," he said. On Mufti government mooting composite townships for Kashmiri Pandits, Mr Abdullah said that Pandits should be brought into areas where Muslims and Sikhs also stay for exclusive townships will only create hatred and bitterness. He also spoke on Rahul Gandhi's return from a sabbatical saying it's a question of time before Rahul emerges just like Indira Gandhi.