Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha has purportedly labelled as “separatist” a Kashmiri journalist who reported allegations by an IAS officer about irregularities in a government scheme, prompting his editor to send a sharp rejoinder.

Media reports have quoted Sinha as saying on Friday that the “writer” of an article highlighting alleged irregularities in the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana health insurance scheme was “himself an active part of the separatist ecosystem”. He did not name the writer.

The reference seemed to be to Jehangir Ali, Kashmir correspondent for The Wire. The portal’s editor, Siddharth Varadarajan, on Sunday wrote to Sinha asking him to withdraw the accusation and refrain from making “unfounded allegations against bona fide members of the media, which is a crucial pillar of democracy”.

Varadarajan added that the “baseless accusation” coming from the lieutenant governor’s high office could have perilous consequences “for the journalist you are targeting and also for the media more broadly”.

A report in The Wire said: “Ali had reported IAS officer Ashok Kumar Parmar’s
allegations that the J&K administration under Sinha rejected the advice of the finance and law departments on the Pradhan Mantri-Jan Arogya Yojna insurance scheme to amend a multi-crore contract midway to favour a private insurance company. He also filed a follow-up report which said that despite the J&K administration’s denial of the IAS officer’s claims, several questions about the insurance scheme remain.”

One day after Ali’s October 12 article, Sinha denied any corruption and targeted the writer. He castigated people allegedly associated with “anti-India, separatist and corrupt ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir”, saying they were worried that “no space” was left for them “to breathe”.

“There were three ecosystems — corrupt, separatist and anti-India ecosystems in J&K. Those associated with these ecosystems are worried and getting pained as they know that the Government of India and J&K will not provide them any oxygen,” a newspaper quoted him as saying.

In his letter, Varadarajan said: “Among other things, it (Sinha’s comment) suggests a willingness on the part of your administration to interfere with freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

“A journalist has and exercises these rights not only in his or her personal capacity, but also because citizens at large have the right to information and a range of news and views. As you might be aware, this position has been recognised as a basic constitutional principle.

“There is nothing Jehangir Ali has ever written for The Wire or elsewhere that justifies the accusation levelled by you. And one would be hard put to find anything that he has ever done, to justify it either.”

The letter said the news report Sinha had referred to was a discussion on policy and lay fully within the realm of “legitimate expression”.

“Of course, the government has the right to differ or issue a factual rejoinder if it wishes…. It should, however, be obvious that criticism of government policy is a far cry from separatism. Equally, publicly branding a journalist whose news report the government disapproves of as ‘separatist’ is a far cry from your right to issue a formal rejoinder,” Varadarajan wrote.

“We request you to withdraw your accusation against Jehangir Ali and refrain from making such unfounded allegations against bona fide members of the media, which is a crucial pillar of democracy.”

IAS officer Parmar, chairman of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Jammu and Kashmir, had in a purported letter to the CBI claimed that the Sinha-led administration had violated the terms of contract with the insurance company by giving it a 15 per cent addendum (for a few months until the contract was awarded to another company).

The company was awarded the three-year contract on December 26, 2020, but had sought to pull out in September 2021, reportedly citing losses.

“But the state administration offered a 15% addendum to the existing contract for four more months ending March 2022,” Ali’s report claimed, quoting the letter.

Jammu and Kashmir health secretary Bhupinder Kumar on Saturday told reporters that the total premium paid to the company — Bajaj Allianz General Insurance — was about Rs 304 crore, against the approximately Rs 398 crore the company had disbursed among patients.

“The fact is that the company instead of earning profit has on the contrary incurred monetary loss of Rs 93.2 crore,” Kumar said.