Govt employees being compelled by J&K govt to attend PM's rally: Omar Abdullah

The PM is addressing his first rally in Kashmir after the scrapping of special status at Bakshi stadium on Thursday.

BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir chief Ravinder Raina recently said a two-lakh-strong crowd will join Modi’s rally in Kashmir.

However, the former chief minister Omar Abdullah said government employees are being asked to assemble in the freezing temperatures to be bused to the venue where the PM will address the rally.

“Tomorrow the godi media & agencies will be gushing about the “historic crowd” gathered to hear PM Modi in Srinagar. What they will conveniently forget to mention is that almost none of the people there will be attending of their own free will. The dictatorial J&K Govt has pulled out all stops to give the PM a crowd because the BJP can’t manage anything in J&K without the administration,” Omar said in a post on X.

“Employees, men & women both, in their 1000s are being asked to assemble between 4:30 AM & 5:30 AM in the freezing temperatures to be bused to the venue. This participation isn’t optional, it’s compulsory. Employees who don’t show up are been threatened with disciplinary action by their Dept heads,” he added.

Omar said private schools like DPS Etc have had their buses commandeered to transport all these employees to the venue.

“I have lists running into the 1000s with department details, addresses & mobile numbers plus transport details. I’ve redacted a portion of one page out of 140 pages. This is the naya J&K but like I said Godi Media won’t report this. They prefer “three families”, “new era of development” yada yada,” Omar said while posting a document of a list containing names of a few government employees along with a transport plan for the VVIP visit.

Meanwhile, ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit, Srinagar city has been declared a 'temporary red zone' for the operation of drones and quadcopters.