New Delhi: Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation and Jammu Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah strongly condemned the arrest of environment activist Sonam Wangchuk.
Congress on Friday said Wangchuk was arrested to divert attention and responsibility from the BJP's "abysmal failure" to maintain law and order and ensure security of life and property in the Union Territory of Ladakh, PTI reported.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation reacted to the arrest by exposing the BJP-led Centre’s witch-hunting agenda, India Today reported.
The Left party said in a statement that the arrest by the Ladakh Union Territory administration, under the control of the Modi regime, clearly exposes the Centre’s attempt to shift blame for a crisis born of the BJP government’s own betrayal of people’s democratic aspirations and trampling of the Constitution.
J&K CM Omar Abdullah said the arrest was unfortunate, and accused the BJP-led NDA government of backtracking on its promises, according to PTI.
"This (Wangchuk' arrest) is unfortunate. The way the Central government was after him since yesterday, it seemed they would do something like this," Abdullah told reporters on the sidelines of the inaugural ceremony of the third Junior Asian Pencak Silat championship here.
"Promises were made with the people there...I don't understand what compulsions does the Central government have to backtrack after making promises," he said.
Police on Friday arrested Wangchuk, two days after protests demanding Ladakh's statehood and Sixth Schedule status left four people dead and 90 injured in Ladakh. Wangchuk was taken into custody by a police party led by Ladakh Police chief S D Singh Jamwal at 2:30 pm, officials said, adding that he has been shifted out of Ladakh.
While there was no official word on the charges pressed against Wangchuk, sources within the Ladakh administration indicated that the stringent National Security Act (NSA) has been invoked against climate activists.