Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 6: Former minister and NPP chairman Harsh Dev Singh has said that with several opposition leaders of different political parties except BJP having been placed under house arrest and others restrained from holding political functions in the state of J&K, it is only the BJP which enjoys unfettered discretion to hold rallies and organize press conferences to disseminate its political philosophy.
In a press statement here today, Harsh Dev while accusing the Govt of enforcing two sets of laws in J&K said that it was a peculiar law and order situation in J&K in which BJP leaders alone had the powers to organize political meetings to the exclusion of entire opposition whose political activity was being declared as prejudicial to public peace.
“Oppressively unique are the ways of the present regime. Unknown and unheard in legal juris prudence. The ruling party enjoys the monopoly of all political activity in the State. If you belong to opposition camp, you can’t go to your people. The non- BJP leaders are however, allowed to hold meetings provided they support the political ideology of the ruling party. These leaders can either join BJP or they need to keep their mouth shut and remain confined within the four walls of their houses. Even meeting the press is prohibited. Its unheard in the history of democracy that democratic rights have been restricted only to the leaders of ruling party while denying the same to opposition camp”, Harsh dev Singh lamented.
Pointing towards the recent developments in the State, Singh said that some leaders of Jammu region had joined the Saffron party simply out of fear despite being its die hard critics and opposed to the core philosophy of the said party. He said that there were loud whispers that ruling party had been resorting to coercion and intimidation to break the opposition leaders with some of them being terrified in the name of their past shady doings. And several others were silenced by the use of brute force, Singh regretted.
Alleging subversion of democracy in the state, Singh urged upon the President of India to intervene as the constitutional head of the nation and ensure the lifting of embargo on the civil liberties of opposition in J&K. He regretted that even the media was being restrained from carrying the statements of opposition leaders.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel