Srinagar, January 12 : Senior Congress leaders across the Kashmir division, including all District Congress Committee Presidents, were placed under preventive house arrest ahead of a scheduled peaceful sit-in protests, the leaders claimed on Monday.
According to party sources speaking to the News Agency Kashmir News Service (KNS), the peaceful demonstration was intended to oppose the central government’s legislative move to replace the Mahatra Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the proposed Gramin Rojgar Guarantee (G-Ram-G) Act.
Speaking exclusively to Kashmir News Service (KNS), Jammu and Kashmir Congress President Tariq Hamid Karra stated, “We were set to hold a peaceful sit-in today, it was a scheduled demonstration, not a spontaneous protest, as we had clearly communicated its peaceful nature.”
He said, “We do not know why the administration took such a step to stop us.”
Karra questioned the motives behind the move, suggesting, “Perhaps the administration perceived it as a threat, or this appears to be an undeclared emergency. Maybe they fear the Congress is successfully mobilizing public opinion against the government, which is why they have placed the entire Congress leadership under house arrest.”
He calling the admin action as “the funeral of democracy.” Karra added, “They have extinguished the very fundamental rights guaranteed by our constitution. Gradually, they are planning to alter the constitution itself. These are Hitlerian tactics.”
Notably, The Congress party has launched a nationwide campaign against the new legislation, which it labels an “anti-people” policy that threatens the livelihood security of crores of rural citizens. (KNS)
