February 7, 2020
Press Statement
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
J&K: Condemn the Slapping of PSA on former Chief Ministers
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the invoking of the draconian Public Safety Act on former Chief Ministers of Jammu & Kashmir, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti. The former served under a BJP government as minister of state and the latter as Chief Minister of the state in coalition with the BJP, under oath of the Indian Constitution.
PM Modi, while replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, in the Rajya Sabha had claimed that the statements made by these two were “not acceptable”. It has now been shown that these statements have been taken from a twitter handle of a satire website “Faking News” and the baselessness of this allegation has been established.
That the Modi government should take recourse to such false news for slapping the notorious PSA belies the claims that ‘everything is normal in J&K’. Thousands continue to be detained even after six months. Lakhs of livelihoods have been disrupted and normal day to day activity simply does not exist. This is an affront to the Indian Constitution and democracy.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands their release and of all those detained from the night of August 4, 2019 be released forthwith and the democratic processes under the Indian Constitution reestablished.