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‘Unacceptable’: Mamata raps curbs on Omar’s visit to martyrs’ graveyard
On Monday morning J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah and his National Conference colleagues dodged police curbs, sprinted on foot and scaled a wall to pay tributes to July 13 martyrs, a day after all political leaders of Kashmir and cabinet ministers of the NC were not allowed to visit the Mazar-e-Shohada (1931 martyrs’ graveyard) in Srinagar’s Old City
Expressing shock, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that what happened to J&K chief minister is unacceptable.
“What is wrong in visiting the graveyard of martyrs? This is not only unfortunate, it also snatches the democratic right of a citizen. What happened this morning to an elected chief minister @OmarAbdullah is unacceptable. Shocking. Shameful,” West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee wrote on X.
On Monday morning J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah and his National Conference colleagues dodged police curbs, sprinted on foot and scaled a wall to pay tributes to July 13 martyrs, a day after all political leaders of Kashmir and cabinet ministers of the NC were not allowed to visit the Mazar-e-Shohada (1931 martyrs’ graveyard) in Srinagar’s Old City.
J&K chief minister faced authoritarian high handedness: Mirwaiz
“Power teaches little, Powerlessness teaches more! Today the CM sahab @omarabdullah tasted the bitter medicine of authoritarian high handedness and subsequent helplessness that common Kashmiri’s face everyday in different forms, as all agency and space is denied to them. Hoping this experience shifts his focus to what is the first priority of every people- upholding of their dignity and their fundamental rights and work sincerely towards its restoration,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq wrote on X.
PDP terms incident as brutal assault on idea of democracy
“When @OmarAbdullah, the elected CM, is manhandled by police, it’s not just an insult to one individual, it’s a brutal assault on the very idea of democracy in J&K. This wasn’t a push, it was a deliberate humiliation of an elected government. The self-respect of the CM, his cabinet, and the mandate of the people has been crushed under the boots of a police state, acting on orders from those who treat J&K like a colony, not a constitutional unit. If this isn’t your red line Omar Sahib, what is?,” Peoples Democratic Party vice-president Aditya Gupta wrote on X.
Things in J&K have deteriorated: Tamil Nadu CM
“At a time when there is a growing demand for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, the current events unfolding there are a grim reminder of how far things have deteriorated. The elected CM @OmarAbdullah is being placed under house arrest simply for wanting to pay homage to the 1931 martyrs’ and is forced to climb walls to do so. Is this how an elected CM should be treated?,” he wrote on X.
He said BJP government is stripping away rights of elected state governments. “This is not just about one state or one leader. From Tamil Nadu to Kashmir, the Union BJP Government is systematically stripping away the rights of elected State Governments. If this can happen in Kashmir, it can happen anywhere, to any elected representative of the people. Every democratic voice must unequivocally condemn this,” he said
Reacting on the incident, RJD leader and leader of Opposition in Bihar, Tejaswini Yadav, said the way J&K chief minister was manhandled is blot on Indian democracy. “The chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir @OmarAbdullah ji represents the will of the people of J&K. The manner in which the elected CM was ill treated and manhandled, is an utterly deplorable act and is a blot on Indian democracy. The BJP should remember that they have been outrightly rejected by the people of J&K. They should desist from ruling the state and dictating the elected government through backdoor,” he wrote on X.
