 It's two years since the government of India changed the status of Jammu and Kashmir revoking the special status it had under the constitution. We have with us a special guest, Mr. Yusuf Tarigami, former MLA of the CPIM from Jammu and Kashmir. He's also the spokesperson of the PAGD and its convener. Welcome to the show, Mr. Tarigami. Mr. Tarigami, have the people of Kashmir adjusted to the new regime? Have they adjusted to the absence of the protection of Article 370 in the last two years? I think, you see, first of all, we must understand what the new situation is, what exactly has been done, the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and that has to be a little analyzed properly. You see, it's not the question of one provision of the constitution getting removed. It is exactly the very bond of our relationship, relationship of the people of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh with the Union of India. That is the bond. And this was the legitimate guarantee provided by the Consulate Assembly of India, which came into being soon after the country got independence. Now, constitution still remains a guide for all of us. And this has been not quite same as far as people of Jammu and Kashmir are concerned. It seems as if constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, it was abrogated but also the constitution of India was not working, is not working in this region of the country. You see, otherwise, ordinarily, whenever any state got divided, new states got constituted. Consumptional, it was mandatory to refer it to the people's opinion, to the concerned population, concerned legislature, has this constitutional direction followed. Vizag is Jammu and Kashmir. I think our countrymen do remember that time and again, the senior leaders of the country have been telling the people of India and people of Jammu and Kashmir that Kashmir remains the crown of India. How was this crown treated? You see, our state, a historic state, and Kashmir has 5000 years history, and then it is downgraded, it is divided with whose consent long before. In 2002, in some place of Haryana RSS held a meeting, National Executive, they adopted a resolution with Jammu and Kashmir, asking the then government not to grant, not to protect the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir. Rather, put Ladakh in the category of union territory, divide Jammu and Kashmir, and grant Jammu a separate state food. This is the design, and this is now when the RSS is in command in the government. This is how they are implementing that plan of dividing the people, disempowering the people, and finally erasing whatever the constitutional rights were provided to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Right, sir, there were certain promises which the government made at the time of the abrogation. What has happened to those promises? What about the development promise? They talk about Naya Kashmir. This needs to be reiterated here today, and we must remind the countrymen that it was in 47 when Maharaja, who was the ruler in Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hary Singh, he remained reluctant to accede to India for some time. It was only when the tribals came to attack us here, Indian army was not here at that point of time. It was the then national conference, Barkar's, they stood up and said, we cannot accept any relationship with ours. We have the tradition, historical traditions. We enter into relationships on our own, and it is how the accession took place when Maharaja, after Indian army support, and he was asked to sign the documents of accession, and that document of accession was followed by, accompanied by another letter. Please look into that. Even Maharaja wanted that accession must remain confined to the three subjects of defense, communication and foreign affairs only. In the rest of the areas, sovereignty must fly with the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It is during this period that demonstrations were held between government of India and the leadership of Jammu and Kashmir that an agreement of incorporating article 370 in the constitution of India was decided. Today, BJP is telling and virtually falsifying the history that Sardar Patel was not part of it. The fact remains that it was decided in 1949 at his residence in Delhi, where Pandit Jawaharlal Nanu, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and Sardar Patel together decided incorporating the commitments made to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the constitutional guarantees of the relationship, providing sufficient autonomy to this historic state. That is how first 306A and then 370 came into being and became the part of the constitution of India. That bond has been assaulted now. How can we adjust with it? We were having a convalescent assembly and one more which was that opportunity was provided by the convalescent assembly of India by incorporating a provision in the constitution of India, which provided which armored the people of Jammu and Kashmir to have one more convalescent assembly and form frame its own constitution as well. That is what we did. That is how today these, the government is talking about Naya Kashmir as they are claiming in the rest of the country building Naya India, New India by destroying the very basic structures of India, modern India. Similarly, they want to destroy the whole Naya Kashmir, which was, which came into being through the hard historic struggles, where land to the tiller was first enacted in this part of the region, while the peasants became masters of the atrial and land where women rights were ensured, where free education up to the university level was provided that Kashmir has remained an eyesore. That is what this government has done on 5th August 2019, destroyed the constitutional provision, destroyed the very constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, destroyed those very rights which were, which emerged out of long struggles of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Now, we have been put in the state of silence, and this silence is not voluntary. This silence is not of our choice. This silence is forced silence. But how long? This is the question which we are posing. This is the question I hope the democratic opinion of the country will someday ask these people who are in authority today. Mr. Tarigami, the government has two other proposals, one on domicile status and the other there is talk about holding elections. Why are Kashmiris so conflicted and worried about the domicile status change? No, it is not. You see the question is domicile. Everything has changed because the very constitutional provisions, the very frame of our future that has been demolished, what has remained now. Otherwise, as far as the rights of land and jobs, those things came into being during Maharaja's rule. And when there were protests, it's not in Kashmir Valley, but in Jammu, Kashmiri Pandits here in Kashmir, and Bokras in Jammu, they demanded that outsiders must not come to encroach the rights on land and jobs. And then there was a notification and that notification ultimately the supreme of that was incorporated in one of the provisions of article 370, known as 35A, that has been abolished. Now, you go to Jammu, ask them, but exactly is there anything to celebrate? There are the jobs now, even the job protection, which the people had demanded, which are available in other provisions of the constitution of India like article 371, for Northeastern states, for private areas, for even Himachal Pradesh. Why Jammu and Kashmir was targeted? The reasons are quite obvious. And as of today, they may try. One thing is very, very unique for them, which only they can do it. Separate lies, just to hoodwink the opinion of the people, but history tells us, coercion, suppression, and any polity based on lies, falsehoods cannot sustain itself for longer period. The country's historic traditions will assert the people of Jammu and Kashmir, unitedly will ask the authorities not to do more injustices, not to commit more, more unlawful acts against its own citizens in Jammu, Kashmir, and other. History will move on. That's why that is how we stand by our own committee. So what are your demands now? What does the PAGD expect from the people, from the government? What do the people want? You see, telling you very frankly, we don't expect anything. You see now, where should we expect anything from this government? We went, Prime Minister asked us to come. We attended the meeting convened by Prime Minister. And yes, we asked in August 2019 before this abrogation took place, publicly appeal to the Prime Minister of India. Don't do anything. First, listen to us. Give us a chance of hearing that opportunity was not given for the two years. We were put virtually the whole population here under restrictions, under unlawful confinements. And then we went there. And where we expressed our concerns, all of us. But the response was, Dilli ki doorya, kam hoongi. Dilli ki doorya, we have to reduce it. Mr. Prime Minister, these words are not enough. Good words, yes. But something concrete needs to be done on the ground. Since last one month, we had asked for the certain confidence building measures. All of us virtually had asked for restoration of statehood, full statehood, which was promised by Home Minister while initiating the discussion on the Reorganization Act. And do you know, parliament, there was a question regarding this issue, and the answer was given by junior Home Minister and saying that statehood will be restored at an appropriate time and after normalcy is restored. One question we must ask this government, you have been claiming that we have done this just to restore peace in the region, normalcy. Even after two years, you are on record in the parliament telling the country that normalcy is not yet restored, so statehood cannot be restored the year. But this is a remission of the government of India, quite failure, even on this claim of restoring peace, restoring normalcy in this region. There is no question of other issues. Our economy is shuttered. Our job opportunities are nowhere seen. The developmental process is virtually halted, and only the developmental process wherever it is seen that is in restrictions that is arresting indiscriminately. That's what the fate of the people of Kashmir today is. And that's why, lastly, I must appeal to the people of our country, listen to us. Please, government does not listen to us, or we don't trust, they don't trust us. We don't trust them. We trust the great people of India. One day they will speak for the country and one day they will speak for the people of Jammu and Kashmir as well. Let's wait for that occasion, that opportunity. Thank you. Thank you very much for joining us, Mr. Taragaman.