Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad remembered his Kashmiri Pandit friends, the 2006 terror attack and his relationship with PM Modi as he said goodbye to his colleagues in Parliament.
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00:00I feel proud that I am an Indian Muslim.
00:10Believe me, Mr. Prime Minister, there have been many ups and downs, but you have never felt bad.
00:16The heart is not hopeless, it is a failure.
00:21The heart is not hopeless, it is a failure.
00:24It is a long night of grief.
00:30The heart is not hopeless, it is a failure.
00:39I have always thought that we are very fortunate.
00:46I am one of those fortunate people who have never been to Pakistan.
00:51But when I read about the situation in Pakistan, I feel proud that I am an Indian Muslim.
01:12I feel proud that I am an Indian Muslim.
01:16I feel proud that I am an Indian Muslim.
01:24For the past 30-35 years, from Afghanistan to Iraq,
01:34I have seen how Muslim countries are fighting with each other.
01:46There are no Hindus, Christians, or others who are fighting among themselves.
01:54And the culture is that the sympathizers are outside Pakistan.
01:59I have come to listen, I have never been there.
02:01But we should not say bad things about other countries.
02:07But we can proudly say that may God never bring such bad things to our Muslims.
02:15So today we can proudly say this.
02:18But here, the majority community also needs to take two steps forward.
02:24When I became the Chief Minister in November 2005,
02:29and when the Darbar Kashmir was inaugurated in May,
02:34I was welcomed with the sacrifice of my brothers and sisters in Gujarat.
02:41I had just arrived two days ago.
02:44The militant's way of welcoming us was to kill the poor.
02:52It meant that we were there.
02:55It meant that we should not live in this misunderstanding.
02:58In Nishad Bagh, which is adjacent to the Raj Bhawan,
03:03there was a Gujarat bus written on it.
03:08In that bus, about 40-50 of our brothers, sisters, and tourists from Gujarat
03:16were shot by a grenade.
03:19And I think more than a dozen people were injured there.
03:28I immediately reached the place, but by then the police had removed it.
03:33Then I met the Prime Minister, he also spoke to the Defence Minister,
03:38I also spoke to the Prime Minister.
03:40A plane came to pick them up, the Mi-8.
03:42But when I reached the airport,
03:48obviously the security said that the Chief Minister was coming, the Chief Minister was coming.
03:52All of them were ready to go to the airport.
03:56Our injured brothers, small children.
04:01So when I reached the airport,
04:04these children, whose father had died, whose mother had died,
04:08when they hugged my legs in tears,
04:12my voice came out with force.
04:16Oh God, what have you done?
04:19How do I answer these children?
04:23How do I answer those sisters
04:28who had come here for recreation, for a walk.
04:33And today I am handing over their bodies.
04:37Their parents' bodies.
04:42So this is something that needs to happen.
04:48Today,
04:52we pray to Allah, to God,
04:56that from this country,
04:59militancy should end.
05:02That terrorism should end from this country.
05:08I want to say this poem
05:11to my Kashmiri Pandit brothers and sisters.
05:14When I used to study in Kashmir,
05:17when I used to win the most votes in the university,
05:21the Kashmiri Pandits used to vote for me the most.
05:26They are my friends. Today they are scattered.
05:28I feel very sad when I meet them,
05:31my classmates.
05:34This poem is for those Kashmiri Pandits
05:37who have lost their homes,
05:40for those Kashmiri widows
05:43who have lost their children,
05:46and for those who have scattered.
05:49This poem is for them.
05:52It has passed,
05:55and I can say this for those who have died.
05:58It has passed,
06:00which was a small story.
06:03It has passed,
06:06which was a small story.
06:09It was a flower, a garden, a home.
06:13It has passed,
06:16which was a small story.
06:19It was a flower, a garden, a home.
06:23Don't ask the story of the drunkard.
06:26Don't ask the story of the drunkard.
06:30Don't ask the story of the drunkard.
06:33It has passed,
06:36which was a small story.
06:40Don't ask the story of the drunkard.
06:44It was a flower, a garden, a home.
06:48We, the Kashmiris,
06:52should make it a small story once again
06:56I have done a lot of work, I have served a lot of people, I have received a lot of blessings from everyone.
07:04I would like to say that the heart is not hopeless, it is a failure.
07:11The heart is not hopeless, it is a failure.
07:15The evening of sorrow is long, it is only the evening.
07:19How long will it be? The morning has come, in winter it is a little long.
07:23The evening of sorrow is long, it is only the evening.
07:27The morning will come again.
07:29Believe me, Mr. Prime Minister, many times there was a clash and you never felt bad.
07:35During the time of LOP, there were many long speeches, yours and mine.
07:41Especially on the speech of the President.
07:45There used to be a long speech, sometimes we used to take responsibility for LOP.
07:55But you never gave it personally against you.
08:00You always kept the responsibility of the personal contact score party away.
08:09Whether it is Eid, Diwali or birthday, you never missed a call.
08:17Either my party president used to call or you used to call.
08:21Our Prime Minister and Congress President used to call.
08:26This personal touch makes a person emotional.
08:37And my contact with the opposition has never been from today.
08:41From the first time I became an M.O.S. till today.
08:45Because we can run the country together.