Srinagar: Ever seen a chief minister walking briskly, climbing a boundary gate and crossing over to the other side?
Omar Abdullah was in a determined mood on Monday.
Defying the orders of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who barred political leaders from holding any event commemorating the anniversary of the 1931 killings during protests against then-ruler Hari Singh, the Jammu & Kashmir chief minister climbed a boundary gate to visit the Naqshband Sahib martyrs’ graveyard in Nawhatta Chawk and pay floral tributes.
In a video which has gone viral, Omar, surrounded by police and security personnel, can be seen marching towards the graveyard with his cabinet ministers. Finding the gate be locked, Omar quickly climbed over it to enter the graveyard.
Omar himself shared the video on his X handle, and wrote: “Paid my respects & offered Fatiha at the graves of the martyrs of 13th July 1931. The unelected government tried to block my way forcing me to walk from Nawhatta chowk. They blocked the gate to Naqshband Sb shrine forcing me to scale a wall. They tried to physically grapple me but I was not going to be stopped today.”
Paid my respects & offered Fatiha at the graves of the martyrs of 13th July 1931. The unelected government tried to block my way forcing me to walk from Nawhatta chowk. They blocked the gate to Naqshband Sb shrine forcing me to scale a wall. They tried to physically grapple me… pic.twitter.com/IS6rOSwoN4
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) July 14, 2025
Omar shared another video which shows him being manhandled inside the cemetery. He lashed out at the Centre and demanded an explanation why an effort was made to stop them.
“This is the physical grappling I was subjected to but I am made of sterner stuff & was not to be stopped. I was doing nothing unlawful or illegal. In fact these ‘protectors of the law’ need to explain under what law they were trying to stop us from offering Fatiha.
This is the physical grappling I was subjected to but I am made of sterner stuff & was not to be stopped. I was doing nothing unlawful or illegal. In fact these “protectors of the law” need to explain under what law they were trying to stop us from offering Fatiha pic.twitter.com/8Fj1BKNixQ
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) July 14, 2025
This comes a day after the administration of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha barred leaders from holding any event commemorating the anniversary of the July 13, 1931 killings during protests against the then-ruler of the princely state, Hari Singh.
Leaders from the ruling National Conference Party (NCP) were put under house arrest on July 13 to prevent them from marking Martyrs’ Day as a tribute to 22 people killed by the Dogra army outside Srinagar’s central jail in 1931.
Five years ago, the Lieutenant Governor-led administration dropped July 13 from the list of gazetted holidays.
Omar had earlier compared the 1931 killings to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. “What a shame that true heroes who fought against British rule… are today projected as villains,” the CM had tweeted.
BJP national general secretary and Jammu & Kashmir in-charge Tarun Chugh slammed Omar for comparing the 1931 killings to the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh tragedy in Amritsar.
“That was colonial brutality against unarmed civilians. July 13 was a communal mob trying to burn down the order. Do not insult our freedom movement by twisting facts,” Chugh said.
“This is not martyrdom. This is a cover-up of Islamist violence. And it’s coming from the same man whose party stayed silent when Kashmiri Pandits were driven out at gunpoint (in 1990),” the BJP leader added.
