Sitaram Yechury said why the PSA has been imposed against Farooq Abdullah (File)
Highlights
- Farooq Abdullah, 83, has been under house arrest since August 5
- He's been charged with "disturbing public order" under Public Safety Act
- Sitaram Yechury asked why the PSA has been imposed against Mr Abdullah
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPIM) leader Sitaram Yechury on Monday slammed the centre for charging National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah under the strict Public Safety Act (PSA), saying the move was a "cowardly afterthought" by the BJP. He also said Mr Abdullah had supported India through "thick and thin".
The tough law enables detention without trial for up to two years.
Farooq Abdullah, 83, has been under house arrest since August 5, after the central government ended special status to Jammu and Kashmir and split the state into two Union territories.
On August 6, when NCP leader Supriya Sule had pointed to Mr Abdullah's absence in the Lok Sabha, Home Minister Amit Shah had said, "He has neither been detained nor arrested. He is at home by his own will."
"The Home Minister, after lying in parliament, now launches this brazen attack on democratic rights and civil liberties of a sitting MP, elected to the Indian parliament and as a Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir so many times," Mr Yechury wrote on Twitter.
"Farooq Abdullah has stood by India through thick and thin. Why has the PSA been imposed? This is a cowardly afterthought by the BJP government with no respect for either India or its Constitution," he added.
Mr Abdullah's son Omar Abdullah and his rival Mehbooba Mufti are among hundreds of Jammu and Kashmir politicians who have been detained or arrested last month in the wake of the centre's move.
The centre's move came after the Supreme Court accepted a petition against his detention.
Mr Abdullah has been charged with "disturbing public order" under the law, which means shorter detention of three months.