Congress cries foul on pre-conditions on workers’ conclave
This comes after the Kishtwar district administration issued some pre-conditions to hold the workers’ convention on Wednesday, for which the party had sought permission
The Jammu and Kashmir Congress on Tuesday slammed the BJP and lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha for what it called an order to “stifle the voice of the Opposition”.
This comes after the Kishtwar district administration issued some pre-conditions to hold the workers’ convention on Wednesday, for which the party had sought permission.
The Congress, it may be stated here, has started a 15 day long campaign “Humari Riyasat, Humara Haq” to press the Centre for restoration of statehood to J&K and it was under this campaign, the Congress had applied for permission.
The administration has stated in the order that convention be held at Tourist Reception Centre at Kishtwar and must be an indoor event. “In no case the protestors be allowed to move in shape of rally, the organiser shall ensure the proper use of silencers so as to restrain noise pollution, no person shall speak against the constitution and positive initiative of the administration for bringing transparency and accountability and lastly, district administration reserves the right to cancel permission at any stage,” the order further read.
Kishtwar district Congress president Advocate Mohd Asif Naqeeb had sought the permission to hold the workers’ convention on Wednesday.
Reacting to the order, J&K Congress’ chief spokesperson and former MLA Ravinder Sharma said, “Is it a permission or a restriction? We want to hold workers’ convention and this administration has asked us to hold it in a small hall of the TRC.”
“What kind of democracy is this? What are they fearing? It seems the BJP is baffled by Congress campaign of ‘Humari Riyasat, Humara Haq’. The administration’s order is nothing but an attempt to stifle the voice of opposition,” he added.
Earlier, Sharma took to X and wrote, “Ahead of @INC convention for #restorationofstatehood,in Kishtwar tomorrow, is it permission or restrictions? This vindicates our mission#JaiBapuJaiBhimJaiSamvidhan”.
When contacted, Kishtwar district magistrate Rajesh Shavan said that he has to go through the ADC’s order first before making any comment. It may be stated here that the order clearly stated the approval of DM.
