‘If this is not dictatorship, then what is?’: AAP MP Sanjay Singh after Farooq Abdullah was barred from meeting him

Srinagar: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Thursday alleged that National Conference president and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah was barred from meeting him at a Srinagar guest house, where he and Delhi MLA Imran Hussain were allegedly confined by authorities.

“It is a very sad thing that Dr. Farooq Abdullah Ji, who has been the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir many times, came to meet me at the government guest house upon hearing the news of my house arrest by the police, but he was not allowed to meet me. If this is not dictatorship, then what is it?” Singh, who is a Member of Parliament, posted on X.

Singh, along with Hussain, was scheduled to address a press conference in Srinagar but said the administration locked the gates of the Church Lane guest house and denied them permission.

Earlier, Hussain said they had planned to highlight the detention of AAP MLA Mehraj Malik of Doda, recently booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA). “Mehraj Malik is in jail because he raised the problems of his people. He is an elected representative. If elected representatives are not allowed to speak and raise their voice, then what is the purpose of being an MLA, and what is the meaning of democracy?” Hussain told a local news agency.

He added that the party would escalate the matter in New Delhi.

Calling the detention an example of “dictatorship,” Singh questioned, “Is it a crime to hold a press conference in a democracy? Is it a crime to stage a protest against the ‘illegal’ detention of an elected MLA?”