AAP’s Sanjay Singh, others ‘detained’ at Srinagar guest house

The J&K Police on Thursday foiled a protest of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) against the detention of Doda MLA Mehraj Malik by reportedly detaining party leaders, including Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Singh, at the guest house here.

Reacting to the development, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said Sanjay Singh was under “house arrest”. “The voice of the people is being suppressed. Opposition leaders are being imprisoned. The BJP has resorted to open hooliganism,” he said.

Malik was booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) on Monday for allegedly engaging in activities deemed “prejudicial to the maintenance of public order”.

On Thursday morning, when Sanjay Singh and former Delhi minister and MLA Imran Hussain tried to leave the Srinagar guest house to address a press meet and to participate in a sit-in, they were not allowed by the police to move. Sanjay Singh and Hussain had arrived in the Valley on Wednesday.

“Dictatorship is at its peak. I am in Srinagar at this moment. Raising one’s voice for rights and protesting in a democracy is our constitutional right,” Sanjay Singh wrote on X, while posting a video as well.

In the video, which showed policemen outside the guest house gate, the MP said, “The police did not reveal the reason why AAP leaders have not been allowed to go ahead with their programme.”

Shortly, as the news of Sanjay Singh's detention emerged, former Chief Minister and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah arrived to meet leaders. He, however, was not allowed to go inside the guest house.

Sanjay Singh then climbed the gate of the guest house to talk to Abdullah.

“It is a very sad thing that Farooq Abdullah ji, who has been J&K Chief Minister many times, came to meet me at the government guest house upon hearing the news of my house arrest, but he was not allowed to meet me. If this is not a dictatorship, then what is it?” Sanjay Singh posted on X.

In the video, Abdullah was seen telling the MP that it was the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) who was actually ruling the UT. “He (L-G) is heading these policemen,” Abdullah said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah criticised the decision to detain the MP while stating that it would send the wrong message.

"You have illegally detained a member of the Rajya Sabha. Under which law? Have you served any order on it? Do you have any order on the preventive detention? Just that if you liked it, then you have closed the gate of the guest house. This is not right. This is not right for the democracy of Jammu and Kashmir. And the message it will send to the people is very wrong,” Omar told reporters in Srinagar. He further said, “Those people who are doing this should think about their actions.”