Opposition contests Shah's normacly claims in J&K

The Congress and the CPM on Monday slammed Home Minister Amit Shah's assertions of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir claiming that the state was under an unprecedented clampdown with severe restrictions on communications, movement of people and incarceration of political leaders.

The Opposition parties also termed the announcement of elections to the block development councils in Jammu and Kashmir as a “worst joke” contending that 61% of the posts of 'panch' and sarpanchs'— who form the electoral college for the elections— were vacant.

“Those who claim there are no restrictions in Kashmir, I can counter their claims. People were not allowed to meet even after the Supreme Court’s order,” Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters here recounting the experience of his five-day visit to J&K.

Azad said that he was not allowed to go his own house in Srinagar on the first day of his visit and arrangements for his stay were made in a guesthouse by the state administration.

“All my conversations with people who came to meet me were being recorded. If you know you are being recorded, who will dare speak the truth,” the former J&K chief minister said.

On Sunday, Shah had said that restrictions were only in the minds of “certain persons” in J&K as curfew had been lifted in all 196 police station limits in the Kashmir Valley.

In a statement, the CPM Polit Bureau asked the government to withdraw restrictions in J&K and accused the home minister of “misleading” the country. It said that the announcement of BDC elections in J&K was a “travesty of democracy” as the electoral college for the polls was not complete.

“It is an attempt to portray to the world that 'normalcy' prevails when in fact for the last two months there has been an unprecedented clampdown on communications, movement of citizens and continued incarceration of political leaders and activists,” the CPM said.

Azad dubbed the elections to the BDC as the “worst joke” as leaders of all political parties were under house arrest in J&K.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, had allowed Azad to visit four districts— Srinagar, Jammu, Baramulla and Anantnag— to meet people. The bench is expected to hear the matter on Tuesday.