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Tamil Nadu CM Stalin questioned if it was appropriate for an elected chief minister to be treated in the same manner as Abdullah
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah | Image: News18
Opposition parties have condemned the “manhandling” of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by police as he attempted to enter Naqshband Sahib graveyard to pay tribute to 22 people killed by the Dogra army in 1931.
The dramatic scenes unfolded a day after Abdullah and several leaders of the National Conference and opposition parties were allegedly put under house arrest to prevent them from going to the graveyard to mark Martyrs’ Day on July 13.
However, Abdullah dodged the security forces and made a surprise visit to the graveyard. With gates closed, the CM climbed over the main gate and entered the graveyard premises to offer ‘fateha’.
In a post on X, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said the incident is unfortunate and unacceptable.
“What is wrong in visiting the graveyard of martyrs? This is not only unfortunate, it also snatches the democratic right of a citizen. What happened this morning to an elected Chief Minister @OmarAbdullah is unacceptable. Shocking. Shameful.” she wrote.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin questioned if it was appropriate for an elected chief minister to be treated in the same manner as Abdullah.
Attacking the BJP, Stalin alleged that the Centre is systematically stripping away the rights of elected state governments from Tamil Nadu to Kashmir.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also took a poetic jibe at the Centre.
तुम यूँ ही हर बात परपाबंदियों का दौर लाओगे,तो जब बदलेगी हुकूमततो तुम ही बताओतुम किस सरहद कोफांद कर जाओगे। pic.twitter.com/EIOI6RJOTc— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 14, 2025
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also reacted to the incident and said, “It is reprehensible that the unelected police and unelected administration of Delhi are trying to control an elected Chief Minister. Elected leaders are being put under house arrest… The LG of J&K has accepted that he is taking responsibility for the Pahalgam attack… If he is taking responsibility to save Delhi, to become its shield, then resign…”
D Raja, General Secretary, Communist Party of India (CPI) said it is utterly unacceptable that in Jammu & Kashmir, the LG’s administration and J&K Police prevented even the elected CM, along with citizens and leaders, from paying their respects at the Martyrs’ graveyard on July 13, arresting and manhandling them.
“Adding to this insult, numerous leaders were placed under house arrest, silenced within their own homes on a day of collective remembrance. This is not just a breach of democratic norms. It’s a blatant assault on our conscience and a reminder of how far governance in J&K has fallen under authoritarian unaccountable rule. CPI demands immediate restoration of statehood—no ifs, no buts—so that the people’s representatives can truly serve, instead of being silenced and subjugated,” he wrote.
CM Fighting With Police: BJP
Sunil Sharma, Leader of Opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, said it is very unfortunate that an elected Chief Minister jumps over the boundary wall of Mazar-e-Shuhada and engages in a scuffle with police.
“We are the ones who form laws, we should not take it into our hands…The youth can also come onto the streets by holding stones, getting provoked as the chief minister is fighting with the police,” he said.
We’re Nobody’s Slaves: CM Abdullah
Omar Abdullah said it is unfortunate that, by the orders of those who claim their responsibility is to maintain law and order, they were not allowed to recite the Fatiha yesterday. “Everyone was house-arrested since the morning. When I told the control room that I wanted to come here to recite Fatiha, bunkers were installed outside my house within minutes. And they remained there till 12-1 am. Today, I came here without informing anyone. Today, too, they tried to stop us… I want to know under which law I was stopped… They say that this is a free country, but they think that we are their slaves. We are nobody’s slaves. We are only the slaves of the people here… We foiled their attempts… They tried to tear our flag. But we came here and recited the Fatiha. They forget that these graves will always remain here. They stopped us on July 13, but for how long can they continue to do so? We will come here whenever we want and remember the martyrs,” he said.
Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter –twitter.com/saurabhkverma19
Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter –twitter.com/saurabhkverma19
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