Independent candidates have increased polling percentage in J&K: JKPC chairman Sajad Lone

New Delhi [India], September 10 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) chairman Sajad Lone said that independent candidates fighting in elections have resulted in an increase in polling percentage in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Independent candidates fighting the polls have increased the polling percentage. What I’m saying is that so many… What is good for the rest of the country is good for J&K. If you are not confining it and making a two-way race in the rest of the country, why should it be a two-way race here? And why shouldn’t we have high polling percentages? Once you have 70-80% polling, you will have a clear political space,” Lone said in an interview with ANI.

He further said that mainstream politics in Jammu and Kashmir is packed with ‘victors’ and ‘victims’, and that whenever there is an outsider in the region, all the other politicians call them collaborators. “what has happened in the last 30 years, that whenever a real victim tries to enter the mainstream space, the victors collude together and call them collaborators. That is what has happened to me. Just as I was coming to see you, there was another statement that now independents are also BJP. So Jamaat is BJP. Now, independents are also BJP. So, what do you actually want? One horse race?” he added.

He further said that he considers himself an outsider, as he lacks the ‘political pedigree’. “There is an establishment, and I am a total outsider. My pedigree is bad, the political pedigree,” he said.

He also added that in the name of national security, every combination of political alliance is possible in Kashmir.

“In Kashmir, in the name of national security, every permutation combination, whatever, murder of democracy, everything is possible. I am not blaming anybody. But take me, I am always in the firing line. Ki isne bola ki yeh Modiji bada bhai hai (He said that PM Modi is like his elder brother), all I said was that he treated, it was a very informal meeting, he treated me like an elder brother would. I have met him only three times. I can bet my life, Farooq saab must have met him 300 times, Omar Abdullah must have met him 350 times.” he added

JKPC chairman also expressed support during the interview for former Jamaat-e-Islami leaders fighting in the upcoming elections.

“So what has happened, The mainstream is packed with victors. They have never been in jail. I have been to jail. They have never been tortured. I have been tortured. The Jamaat, most of them that you see, must have been tortured. Or their children must have been tortured. Or they must have spent years in jail. Or their colleagues must have spent years in jail. So they know what it is like to be a victim. They understand the pain of the victim,” he said.