Srinagar, Sep 23 (UNI) Democratic Progressive Azad Party Chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday said that all political parties are his competitors, emphasizing that he does not consider any party or leader as a friend.
“We are competitors, and I see my opponents as competitors, not friends, although I wish every political party or leader good health,” the DPAP leader told media persons during an election rally in central Kashmir on Monday.
“None of them is my enemy. Political parties are our competitors. It’s like being in a classroom— we are all good friends studying under one roof. But there is competition over who will be first, second, or third. Similarly, we are all in one country, sometimes eating at the same hotel or even in the same home, but we are still competitors,” Azad said.
The former Congress leader reiterated that he views political opponents as competitors, not friends while wishing them well in terms of health.
On Article 370, Azad said, “I stated from the beginning, although everyone opposed me, and now those same leaders are saying it will not be possible for a hundred years to reinstate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.”
He continued, “But I never mentioned a hundred years. At the first meeting of my party in Baramulla, I said that I fought in Parliament bravely, even though there were ten Members of Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir— six in the Lok Sabha and four in the Rajya Sabha. I alone fought. I made six speeches in Parliament, advocating for Article 370, statehood, and Article 35A.”
Azad added that no one in Parliament understood the origins of Article 35A until he explained that it was a pre-Independence provision, not a post-Independence one. He explained that it was the ruler Maharaja Hari Singh, at the request of Jammu Hindus and Kashmiri Pandits, who issued orders in 1925 and 1927 to grant state subjects the right to own land.
He concluded by saying that the state-subject provision remained in place until August 5, 2019, when Article 35A was removed.
