Omar, Mehbooba hit out at BJP, Centre over booking of Hilal Akbar Lone on hat speech row, seek explanations

Srinagar: National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah and PDP President Mehbooba Muftii the two former Chief Ministers on Tuesday hit out at both BJP and the Central government over the booking of Hilal Akbar Lone the son of Member Parliament and senior National Conference leader Mohammad Akbar Lone on allegations of hate speech and sought explanations from both the BJP and the central over it’s definition of hate speech and selectivity in booking the accused.
“The BJP has a completely different standard when it comes to hate speech from its leaders, National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah alleged on Tuesday.
Abdullah’s remark came after his party colleague Hilal Lone was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly delivering a “hate speech” at a rally during last year’s district development council elections in Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipora.
“The BJP has a completely different standard when it comes to hate speech from its own leaders. They can call for hands to be cut off, people to be murdered and it’s fine. Hilal Lone makes a speech and anti-militancy laws are used to book him,” Abdullah tweeted.
Referring to Lone’s arrest, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said there would not be enough room in the prisons of the country if the BJP’s ministers, lawmakers and members of its “IT Cell” were brought to book for inciting communal passions against minorities.
“GOI (Government of India) continues to shamelessly book Kashmiri mainstream leaders under UAPA for ‘hate speech’. The truth is that there won’t be enough room in Indian prisons if their own ministers, lawmakers and noxious IT Cell were brought to book for inciting communal passions against minorities,” she said in a tweet.
Lone, the son of National Conference’s Member of Parliament Mohammad Akbar Lone, was arrested on Monday from the MLA hostel here where he was being held captive since December last year, a senior police official said on Tuesday. He was booked under various sections of the UAPA in an FIR registered at a police station in Hajin in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district. The official said the case relates to a speech he made during the public rally while campaigning in the DDC polls in Hajin. On December 25 last year, he was detained in Bandipora’s Sumbal area and then shifted to the MLA hostel here.