Politicians can be bad, not politics: Farooq Abdullah

New Delhi: Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has said that "politics is not bad but politicians can be bad".

Speaking at an event in Delhi on Thursday, he further said that since Independence, each election has divided India instead of uniting.

"Politics is not bad, politicians can be bad. Many of us join politics for service and many of us join politics for making money. God doesn't live in temples, mosques or gurudwaras, he lives in people and if you serve people you are serving God," he added.

"Since independence, each election has divided India instead of uniting it. We fight for temples and mosques, we don't fight for people. We lie and we fear that if we're honest, we won't win. We are wrong. You have to tell them that you can't do things beyond a certain point," he opined.

Later in the day, while addressing another event in the national capital, Abdullah also claimed that the democracy of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru doesn't exist anymore.

Addressing the audience, he said, "Every election that has been held in this nation has divided us rather than uniting us and we continue to get divided. Where is the democracy anymore that Gandhi preached us or which Nehru spoke of? India is going through a very difficult phase."

He further called for a change in the country and said, "There is the fear in Kashmiri mind and the young mind that they have no place in this India. How do I convince them that they have a place, when I see people lynching people or when I see just because of your religion you are targeted. How do I convince them? We need to wake up. If you can't wake up there will be no India, it will fall apart".