Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha faced a huge embarrassment on Thursday as newly elected legislators from all parties skipped the Union Territory Foundation Day celebrations he chaired, prompting him to wage a no-holds-barred attack on elected legislators by questioning their “double standard”.

The LG’s administration celebrated the fifth anniversary of the creation of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

While National Conference (NC), Congress and Peoples Democratic Party legislators boycotted the event, BJP legislators were surprisingly conspicuous by their absence.

Some BJP leaders came down hard on the ruling NC and other parties for boycotting the event, with one leader saying that it was tantamount to playing into the hands of Pakistan.

A furious LG wondered how those who had taken oath as legislators of the UT skipped the event. “I have been seeing since yesterday on social media that those who took oath as legislators of the UT, spoke about the Indian Constitution (boycotted the event),” he told a gathering of mostly bureaucrats and government officials.

Omar Abdullah File picture

“This double standard will not benefit Jammu and Kashmir.”

“It’s a reality that J&K is a UT today and members have taken oath and affirmed their true faith and allegiance to the Constitution. When it becomes a state, we will definitely celebrate a statehood day. The Honourable Prime Minister and home minister have said statehood will be restored at an appropriate time,” an official statement quoting LG said, skipping the word “dohra charitra”.

The LG said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to restore statehood at an appropriate time and once that happens he would also celebrate the state’s day foundation. He said that the fact remained that Jammu and Kashmir was now a
Union Territory.

Sinha also came down hard on people “twisting language”, asking them to desist from doing so for “God’s sake”.

“I want to tell those twisting the language, after a lot of effort the situation has improved. Those dreaming of spoiling it, I want to tell them, for God’s sake, desist. It will yield nothing,” Sinha said without naming anybody.

It was not clear who Sinha was targeting but the remarks came days after the Right-wing ecosystem criticised chief minister Omar Abdullah and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti for using the word “militants” instead of “terrorists” for gunmen involved in the recent attacks in the UT.

Sinha said the next three months were crucial in the fight against “terrorism”.

The BJP slammed the NC and others for not participating in the foundation day event held at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre in Srinagar.

“It is absurd and tantamount to playing into the hands of Pakistan. They may have differences on the issue but what is the message they are sending outside? It is like one organ of the government boycotting another. A government boycott will create anarchy,” the BJP’s chief spokesperson in Jammu and Kashmir, Sunil Sethi, told The Telegraph.

Surprisingly, none of the 29 BJP MLAs participated in the event. An official spokesperson said BJP Rajya Sabha members Ghulam Ahmad Khatana participated in the event. Local BJP leader Dr Hina Shafi, who is not an MLA, was also there.

Shafi, however, said that she was at the event as the head of the khadi and village industries board. She, however, claimed that BJP MLAs participated in different events held on the occasion at local levels. But the BJP’s official WhatsApp media group, where they share details of important events during the day, offered no updates on it.

Sethi claimed that the MLAs were in Jammu, busy with Diwali celebrations. He said they would be visiting Kashmir in the next few days.

NC’s Bijbehara MLA Dr Bashir Veeri said he did not receive any invitation but clarified it was a policy decision to boycott the event. “There is an ideological conflict (over Article 370 and related issues). We will not surrender our stand before anybody,” he said.