00:00For the first time in Kashmir, the BJP is becoming a single largest party.
00:04People have decided because they understand the BJP's entire game
00:08is to ensure that the vote is divided.
00:11It will be a pleasant surprise. Look at it.
00:13Look at the elections which have happened in Trinagar, Badgaon and Gadar.
00:17We are surprised.
00:18BJP has been always telling one thing. Go for the vote.
00:21The challenge remains a historical one.
00:25But the defeat of the centre also remains a historical one.
00:29Kashmiri and Pahadi, all of them are the same.
00:33They move forward, we move forward. Kashmiri is doing well.
00:36I assure you that we are not staring at a hung assembly.
00:39People of Jammu and Kashmir are not so stupid that they would repeat 2014 again.
00:44God willing, I assure you, if not the king, PDP will be the kingmaker.
00:49In North Kashmir also, the winds are blowing in North.
00:53Our national conferences favour.
00:55The last phase of assembly elections are happening tomorrow.
00:58What are your expectations from North Kashmir where we have fielded candidates of your party?
01:04The North Kashmir people have always believed in democracy.
01:09In the past as well, before the abrogation of Article 370,
01:12we have seen a huge percentage of voters in North Kashmir.
01:16We have seen in the parliament elections that the people of North Kashmir
01:22voted in large numbers.
01:25They don't boycott for anything.
01:28They have always been with the idea of India,
01:31starting from the Karna to the Hanwara and so on.
01:37So the third phase is going tomorrow.
01:40The people are going to cast their vote tomorrow.
01:43I think that it will be a victory for democracy.
01:46No matter whom you vote, no matter whether you choose any political party,
01:50but at least the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the people of North Kashmir,
01:53they have the kind of sense that if we vote for any particular party,
01:58our voice will be heard.
02:00Because in the past we have seen how the elections were rigged
02:03by the national conferences of Congress.
02:05The people used to have that trauma in their mind.
02:08If you vote for any political party, but still,
02:10the Delhi or the people here in the Gupkar, they decide these things.
02:15But the time has changed now.
02:17The people of Jammu and Kashmir have the trust, the confidence on the votes,
02:21the ballot box, that's why they choose the ballot box.
02:24So, whose party will come, I think that will be a victory of the people,
02:29that will be a victory of democracy.
02:31When you say whose party will win, are you giving a clinch to BJP?
02:35Are you fearing that BJP might not win any seats from North Kashmir?
02:40See, I always say, including the BJP as well, as a party,
02:44BJP has always been telling one thing, that go for the vote.
02:48It's the only political party in Jammu and Kashmir
02:50who says to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, please cast your vote.
02:53If you see the pamphlets of the BJP, they always say, please cast your vote.
02:57They never say vote for us.
02:58Because we always say that the victory of democracy means the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
03:02Because the Bharatiya Janata Party believes in democracy.
03:05If I talk about North Kashmir, the people of North Kashmir,
03:08they love the Bharatiya Janata Party like anything.
03:11I was in North Kashmir almost for a week now.
03:13I have been campaigning for our candidates.
03:17Adrish Karnai, Gurez, the honourable defence minister who was in Gurez yesterday,
03:24we have seen the huge populace of the people in the gathering.
03:28So what it indicates, it indicates that the people of Jammu and Kashmir,
03:31especially the North people, they love the Bharatiya Janata Party
03:34because they have seen the leadership of Prime Minister Modi,
03:36especially from the last 10 years, the Modi 2.0, 2.3, I can say.
03:41And in the North Kashmir, we are expecting that we may get three seats,
03:46or sorry, two seats or more.
03:48For example, we have the Karna.
03:50The Karna, you know very well, the people of Karna, they got the reservation, SD reservation.
03:54So obviously, maybe they may vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party.
03:57Then we have the Gurez, that's also a Pahadi or SD seat, I can say.
04:01The Fakir Mughal Khan, he used to be a former MLA.
04:04That means he has the eyes to win the seats.
04:06So obviously that Bharatiya Janata Party may get two seats from the North Kashmir.
04:10But Sajid sahib, at the same time, Gurez and Karna are border areas
04:14and they have suffered a lot over these years.
04:17So if your representatives make it or your party makes it,
04:21what will you do to uplift those people who have been,
04:25who have borne the brunt of cross-border shelling over these years
04:29and have seen massive destruction?
04:31If I'm not wrong, that I have been visiting these places.
04:36The Kamalkot area of the Uri, the Chamkot area of the Karna and the Gurez area.
04:42I have been visiting these places whenever the shelling happened.
04:45But I think from last three, four years, I have not seen any shelling happening in these areas.
04:51Just because we have the strong government in the centre, that's the reason.
04:54Second thing, the Honourable Defence Minister, he announced the bunkers for the people of the border areas.
05:00I'm not talking about the present time, in the past.
05:02He has already done these things and I know that a lot of work has been done already.
05:06And the people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially the North Kashmir people,
05:10who are on the border area, they have the expectation from the government.
05:13I have mentioned that the people, the North people, especially the border area,
05:16they got the reservations.
05:18I was in the Karna yesterday, the people told me that we have almost now 19 doctors from that category.
05:24People used to say they are the Ushud.
05:26These political parties used to think that no, leave them, they don't need the bunkers.
05:32They got the reservation and now the thing is, we have 19 doctors in Karna.
05:37What it indicates is that you have given them a chance and they are blowing up.
05:41Kashmiri and Pahadi, all the people from the Mir Tabqa, they are all the same.
05:45They move forward, we move forward. Kashmiri is doing well.
05:48Sir, my last question to you is, will Aapki Baar, Pachas Paar be a realistic slogan?
05:55Will this dream turn into a reality for BJP?
05:59Have you seen the statement of the Prime Minister?
06:02Have you seen the statement of the Home Minister?
06:04I remember his words yesterday.
06:06He has told that for the first time in Kashmir, the BJP is becoming the single largest party.
06:12So, the Prime Minister, Home Minister and so many other leaders can say this.
06:16They are saying this after thinking about it.
06:18Some of their assessment or analysts on the ground,
06:21they have seen that thing and they are telling that here.
06:24As a member of a party, as a small worker,
06:27I also believe that BJP's grip is being formed in J&K.
06:31There was a time in Kashmir when people of the Kashmir valley used to hide their faces.
06:36As a Kashmiri, I cannot show my face with a camera five years ago.
06:40Today, I proudly say that I am its representative.
06:42This is the change.
06:44And I am expecting that this change should come in the future.
06:47After five years, there will be more elections.
06:49Now, DDC, Municipality, all these elections will take place.
06:51Who knows, you will get the most from our party's representatives.
06:53The elections are more or less concluding tomorrow.
06:56The last phase in North Kashmir is concluding.
07:00So, where are the winds blowing in North Kashmir?
07:04You see, the winds were very clear in Central Kashmir where they blew in NC's favour.
07:10The winds were very clear in South Kashmir where they blew in National Conference's favour.
07:14And Inshallah, I assure you with all and I give you a guarantee that
07:20in North Kashmir also the winds are blowing in NC's favour.
07:26And there is a very clear reason for that.
07:28People have decided not to divide their vote.
07:32People have decided because they understand the BJP's entire game is to ensure that the vote is divided.
07:39Because the BJP cannot fight on its own.
07:41The BJP cannot make a government on its own.
07:44BJP's chief, Ravinder Rehna, himself made a claim saying that they will have to form a government with independents.
07:51In 2014 also, if we see, they formed the government only when Sajjad Gani Lone Sahab's party, PC and PDP together allied with them.
08:02So, their entire game is to ensure that the mandate of anybody other than the BJP voter is fractured
08:11and once the mandate of everybody else is fractured, they then get to decide which pieces they want to pick
08:18so that they can form a government with them.
08:21And people have defeated that design.
08:24Shivraj, what remains a challenge for National Conference?
08:26Is it Sajjad Gani Lone or Engineer Rashid in North Kashmir?
08:31You see, the challenge for us is not Sajjad Gani Lone or Engineer Rashid or anybody else.
08:37The challenge for us, I would say, remains this constant influx of proxy political parties from New Delhi.
08:45And let's not forget, it's Sajjad Gani Lone and Engineer Rashid, they are very late players to this game.
08:51This game started way back in 1953 when they first installed Bakshi, then they had Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq.
08:58Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq, for that matter, who converted the Prime Minister's position to Chief Minister's position,
09:03who converted the Sadr-e-Riyasat to Governor, who converted the Supreme Court title to High Court title.
09:11Then we had somebody else, Mir Kasim.
09:15Then, after National Conference, eventually passed the Autonomy Resolution
09:20to ensure that National Conference never has the numbers and the ability to do that again,
09:25the BJP government, the central government at that time, had PDP.
09:30Literally, they cobbled up a political party together, PDP, to ensure that the mandate is fractured
09:36and something like the Autonomy Resolution by the National Conference is not done again.
09:41Then, post-2018, we saw Ram Madhavji came in and he announced what he called the BJP Front.
09:48That was openly announced. Sajjad Lone Sahab clearly met with Ram Madhavji
09:53and he openly announced himself as a part of the Front.
09:57Then we saw, in the Lok Sabha election, Ravinder Rehna Sahab very clearly said,
10:02that the symbol in our valley is bat and ball, referring to our party.
10:10Then eventually we saw, I mean, we suddenly see Engineer Rasheed being released out of jail 10 years before elections.
10:18We see that most of his candidates, independent candidates,
10:22are people who have actually supported the abrogation of Article 370
10:25when all the history was took out.
10:28We saw him openly hugging Sandeep Mawa,
10:31a person who day in and day out calls for the hanging of Yasin Malik.
10:36So this, it's not that, is this proxy party a challenge, is that proxy a party a challenge?
10:42The challenge remains a historical one.
10:46But the defeat of the Centre also remains a historical one.
10:50National Conference throughout 1953 has defeated such designs
10:55and Inshallah, in this election and every other election that comes, we will defeat these designs.
11:00Ifrahji, Srinagar Conscience has more or less witnessed a boycott with just 25 votes being polled.
11:07So do you expect there will be a higher turnout in North Kashmir?
11:11You see, after the Lok Sabha elections, when people came out in large numbers,
11:17instead of rewarding the people of Jammu and Kashmir,
11:20the BJP government using its parliamentary powers, exclusive parliamentary powers,
11:25further diluted the rights people of Jammu and Kashmir had under the State Reorganisation Act.
11:31They further took away rights and powers from the representatives of people.
11:36That was definitely something which dampened the spirits of the people
11:40and it almost witnessed a boycott.
11:43This is also a wake-up call for the BJP because it was the BJP that kept saying,
11:48people are coming out because of us.
11:51This Darendra Modi Ji gets his credit.
11:55People ensured that no credit whatsoever is given to the BJP.
12:01So whenever some good thing happens, we beg the BJP, please do not take credit of that.
12:07Because people of Jammu and Kashmir do not want to give you credit
12:10and they will do the exact opposite to ensure that you don't get credit of anything here
12:17because they know they are first-hand witnesses to the destruction you have subjected Jammu and Kashmir to.
12:23So, Ifrah Ji, are we staring at a hung assembly?
12:26No, we are not. We are staring at a National Conference-led majority in the assembly.
12:34I assure you that we are not staring at a hung assembly.
12:37People of Jammu and Kashmir are not so stupid that they would repeat 2014 again.
12:42People of Jammu and Kashmir have decided to stay united and Inshallah, united will be their mandate.
12:49So, in other words, you mean, now it's the turn of the National Conference?
12:52Absolutely, now it's the turn of the National Conference and now it's the turn of the BJP.
12:58Much more than that because people are coming out, they want to vote.
13:02I hope it will be a very good turnout.
13:06Do you expect PDP will win enough seats from these three districts?
13:10I hope so. I hope so. It will be a pleasant surprise. Look at it.
13:15Look at the elections which have happened in Srinagar, Badgam and Gahadar. We are surprised.
13:20People say we can bag so many seats. It will be a pleasant surprise for all of us.
13:26Do you think that X-factor of Engineer Rashid will play out in North Kashmir?
13:31No, no, no. It hasn't. It hasn't. People have gone through his tricks.
13:36People know that it's not the same thing when they voted for him in parliamentary elections.
13:42They know now. They know for certain. And I am 100% sure it won't be the same thing again.
13:48Sir, are you hopeful that PDP, like 2014, will emerge as the single largest party in these elections?
13:55I assure you. God willing, I assure you. If not the king, PDP will be the kingmaker.
14:02The elections in J&K are nearing an end, with 40 constituencies going to polls in the last phase tomorrow.
14:10But even before the results are out, many parties are claiming a victory of their contestants in the 90-member assembly.
14:18But who will be the kingmaker and who will form the next government in J&K will only be known when the verdict is out next week.
14:27In Srinagar, for One India, Izhar Ali.
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