Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was denied entry into the state and sent back from Srinagar airport on Thursday, prompting the Congress to ask the reason for the blockade if things were indeed “normal”.
Ironically, before flying to Srinagar in the morning “to stand with my people”, Azad had drawn BJP ire by suggesting the apparent normality in the Valley, as portrayed by the government, was a sham.
“If things are normal in Kashmir as the BJP government claims, why has the former chief minister been stopped from entering Kashmir?” the Congress tweeted.
“It is flat out illegal and shows that the BJP government is lying to the people of India again.”
Visuals of national security adviser Ajit Doval talking to local people and eating with them on a Kashmir street had been put out on Wednesday, apparently to suggest that things were normal in the Valley.
When Azad, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, was asked about it before he left for Srinagar, he had said: “Paise dekar aap kisiko bhi sath le sakte ho (You can take anyone along if you pay them).”
This triggered a controversy, with BJP politicians accusing Azad of suggesting that the people of Kashmir could be bought over. They also warned that Pakistan would misuse such statements.
Azad, however, insisted that the show had been stage-managed. “There is no phone, no Internet, no communication in the Valley. Have you seen a law being made by resorting to such a lockdown? This thinking, this approach is shameful.”
After returning to Delhi following a four-hour wait at Srinagar airport, he said: “The deputy commissioner and senior police officers told me, ‘There is an order for not allowing you to step out’.
“We talked to people at the airport — nobody can step out of their homes. The plane flies low while entering Srinagar: I didn’t see a single vehicle on the road where thousands of vehicles ply daily. I have seen wars but even then such a situation was not seen.”
Azad added: “The state is under curfew. Is this the way to govern? The BJP government should be ashamed. (Marshalling) four-five people by giving them money and eating with them on the road is easy, but they have ruined the state.”
