Omar Abdullah slams J&K administration, says govt staff ordered to gather for PM rally in freezing cold

Former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has slammed the current administration of the union territory for directing its empolyees to compulsorily attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Srinagar on March 7.

Tweeting a redacted version of a document containing names and department details of govt employees, Abdullah said that they had been asked to assemble as early as 4.30 am in the freezing cold so that they can be taken to the rally venue in buses.

Abdullah said that department heads have threatened disciplinary action if employees don't show up.

"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," Abdullah said in a post on X.

Abdullah also claimed that several private schools have been directed to provide their buses for transporting the employees for the rally.

"Private schools like DPS Etc have had their buses commandeered to transport all these employees to the venue. I have lists running in to 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," he added.

(With PTI inputs)