Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday criticised the government for booking former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA).
The former Union finance minister tweeted to express his shock against the arrest of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC) leaders along with two others.
“Detention without charges is the worst abomination in a democracy. When unjust laws are passed or unjust laws are invoked, what option do the people have than to protest peacefully?” Chidambaram asked.
The Congress veteran then tweeted to remind Prime Minister Narendra Modi about Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela and why people protest.
“PM says that protests will lead to anarchy and laws passed by Parliament and legislatures must be obeyed. He has forgotten history and the inspiring examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela,” he posted.
“Unjust laws must be opposed through peaceful resistance and civil disobedience. That is satyagraha,” he said.
The move against the four leaders in Kashmir came on a day Prime Minister Modi quoted what the former chief ministers said in August last year after Parliament cleared the nullification of Article 370 to suggest that they were not in sync with the spirit of the Constitution.
Modi said Mufti called the move a “betrayal”, while Omar Abdullah warned of an “earthquake” in the aftermath of the decision. Modi added Farooq Abdullah said people would stop waving the Indian flag in the region and asked if any “true Indian” would “advocate the cause of such people”.
The two other leaders booked under the PSA include NC’s Ali Mohammed Sagar and PDP leader Sartaj Madani.
A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the former chief ministers have been booked under the PSA since their preventive detention ended on Thursday.
