00:00I think if the BJP, if that is the deal that is to be struck with the people, then the BJP
00:08should be honest. Because the BJP in its manifesto or in its promises to Parliament and to the
00:15Supreme Court never said that statehood is dependent on the BJP coming to power in Jammu
00:20and Kashmir. If that is the case, then I think the BJP should be honest. They should tell us
00:27that so long as there is a non-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir, you will not get statehood.
00:33Then we'll decide what we want to do. But tying up with the BJP or an alliance with the BJP is out
00:39of the question. We appointed an Advocate General. We appointed one within days of coming to power.
00:47In fact, we asked the existing Advocate General to continue. He was stopped from attending work.
00:55Now, why he was stopped from attending work, I don't know. But he was categorically told
01:03not to attend office. So as of now, technically we have an Advocate General. The Advocate General
01:10just hasn't been allowed to work.
01:12Now, I believe, and this is where sort of the absence of clarity on our business rules. I believe
01:22that the authority to appoint an Advocate General is with the elected government. There are some who
01:28disagree. But we continue to press this case. We are also pressing for clarity on the business
01:36rules that were cleared by the Cabinet in March of this year. Hopefully, when those go ahead,
01:42we will be able to address this. But the absence of an Advocate General is not good for us.
01:48He is the legal face of the government. We are probably the only state or territory in the country
01:54that doesn't have an Advocate General who attends court. It's only the AAG who does this.
02:01And even there, oftentimes I think the AAG is confused as to where he should take his instructions
02:08from. I think the crisis is extremely unfortunate. The people of Ladakh have been pushed to the
02:14wall. Promises have been made to them that have not been kept. And unfortunately, this seems
02:20to be a practice, particularly with the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Promises are made
02:27and then promises are broken. Ladakh was promised sick schedule. Now, either they knew they can't
02:35give sick schedule and they still made the promise, in which case they shouldn't have done it.
02:39Having promised sick schedule, why aren't you implementing it? It's similar to our case.
02:43You promised us statehood. You're not giving us statehood. Is the attempt now to push Jammu and Kashmir
02:49to the wall also? Is that what you're saying? That they're not happy with the situation being peaceful
03:00here? They're not happy with the fact that this demand is only being made in a democratic and
03:06constitutional manner? The fact is that both Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir were promised something
03:14significant. All we want is those promises kept. The promise made to Ladakh should be kept
03:19and the promise made to Jammu and Kashmir should be kept.
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