India is no more a democracy: Ghulam Nabi Azad

"Let me tell you, we are no more a democracy. If anyone thinks that he is living in democracy, that person is living in fool's paradise," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Thursday. He was addressing an all-party meeting called by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam at Jantar Mantar to protest against the arrest of senior political leaders in Kashmir.

Several leaders in Kashmir, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, are still in detention even as the government maintains that it is taking measures to ease restrictions in the Valley.

Jammu and Kashmir has been under strict security lockdown ever since the Centre scrapped the state's special status under Article 370 and bifurcated it into two Union territories.

Azad urged the Centre to release all the political prisoners and leaders, and to restore all telecom services in Jammu and Kashmir.

Azad, a former chief minister, was stopped at the Jammu airport on Tuesday and sent back to Delhi, the second time in a month he was not allowed to visit the state after its special status was withdrawn.

“If you claim that everything is peaceful in Kashmir, then open the mobile services,” he said, claiming that the landline is not used by even 0.001 per cent of the population.

Azad said when he was the information and broadcasting minister, he didn't have the courage to call the editor of a media platform and ask him to drop a story. “But now any random leader of the ruling party calls any media outlet, its editors or owners to drop the story and the outlet has to oblige,” said the Congress leader.

Congress leaders Karti Chidambaram, RJD's Manoj Jha, CPI(M) leaders Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat, Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav and senior leaders from the DMK among others were present at the meet.