Shia cleric walks out of Jammu and Kashmir administration meeting on Muharram
Former minister and prominent Shia cleric Imran Reza Ansari decided to walk out after the chief secretary interrupted him as he questioned the administration’s alleged lack of enthusiasm for Muharram
Former minister and prominent Shia cleric Imran Reza Ansari on Monday walked out of a Jammu and Kashmir administration meeting chaired by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha to discuss Muharram arrangements in the Valley.
Ansari decided to walk out after the chief secretary interrupted him as he questioned the administration’s alleged lack of enthusiasm. The meeting was attended by several leaders of the Shia community.
Sources said, Ansari, the All Jammu And Kashmir Shia Association head and a senior leader of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC), had expressed concern that the Muharram arrangements may not be at par due to “lack of compassion”.
He is said to have also questioned Sinha for his several visits to oversee arrangements for the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, saying the same enthusiasm was missing from administration for Muharram.
Sources said while Ansari was directly addressing the lieutenant governor, chief secretary A K Mehta intervened and accused Ansari of talking in a “sectarian voice”. Ansari at this point asked the chief secretary to not put words into his mouth.
Sinha proceeded to ask Ansari to allow other Shia leaders to share their views only for the leader to walk out in protest.
Ansari later said he was pained by the daily “humiliation”, adding, ‘I don’t understand whether these are politicians or bureaucrats. I challenge them to talk in this tone to any person in public life in the rest of the country. Are we second class citizens that bureaucrats have been given a licence to humiliate?”
Criticising Sinha’s behaviour, he said, “I would love to see whether he would appreciate similar behaviour by a bureaucrat in his home state of Uttar Pradesh.”
The JKPC has since condemned the behaviour displayed by the state administration towards Ansari.
“We express deep concern over this dangerous precedent being set by the administration. It started the humiliation of political leaders, and now they are moving on into the domain of humiliating religious leaders,” the PC spokesperson said.
A message to Jammu and Kashmir chief secretary AK Mehta did not elicit any response.