Farooq Abdullah (L) and Sanjay Singh (R).
Srinagar: High drama unfolded in Srinagar on Thursday after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh climbed the gate of a government guest house, alleging he had been confined by police to prevent him from meeting National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah.
Singh, who arrived in the Valley to protest against the detention of AAP’s lone J&K legislator Mehraj Malik under the Public Safety Act (PSA), said he was being subjected to a “house arrest” ordered by the Lieutenant Governor’s administration.
“I have been locked inside when I only wanted to raise my voice for justice. This is an attack on democracy,” Singh said before forcing his way out by scaling the iron gate to reach Abdullah.
The NC president, who met Singh soon after, hit out at the administration for curbing peaceful political activity. “This is absolutely wrong. In a democracy, protest is a constitutional right. Unfortunately, because J&K is a Union Territory, all powers rest with the LG. But these powers are being misused,” Abdullah told reporters.
He argued that there was no justification for preventing Singh from addressing a press conference or holding a peaceful protest. “Is it so dangerous if Sanjay Singh speaks? This is not autocratic rule; this country has a Constitution,” Abdullah said.
Going further, the former chief minister cautioned that undermining constitutional freedoms could trigger instability. Referring to recent political upheavals in South Asia, he said, “The LG has a duty to safeguard the Constitution. If that does not happen, one must learn from what has unfolded in Nepal and Bangladesh.
In Nepal, the Constitution collapsed and governance broke down. In Bangladesh, the situation is equally volatile. Before such a fire breaks out in our own country, the authorities must respect limits set by the Constitution.”
The AAP, which has only a nascent presence in Jammu and Kashmir, has made Malik’s detention a flashpoint for its politics in the region. Party leaders in Delhi, including Arvind Kejriwal, have also criticised the move as “unjustified” and “anti-democratic.”
The J&K police did not immediately respond to Singh’s allegations, but officials maintained that restrictions on political gatherings in parts of Srinagar were linked to law-and-order concerns.