HYDERABAD, INDIA, AUG 26 (DNA) – Communist Party of India (CPI) General Secretary Doraisamy Raja has revealed that the situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) was much worse than it was being perceived outside the territory.

Raja, who was part of Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s delegation intending to visit the besieged territory of Kashmir, said people have been suffering with no access to food, medicines and other essential commodities. A part of the opposition’s 11-member delegation that visited Srinagar was forced to return from the airport, he deplored.

He added the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 by the Modi government was not only “undemocratic but also unconstitutional.”

“On the one hand, the Modi-led government has brought Kashmir at par with other states as per the Constitution, but at the same time it is unwilling to apply the Constitution to Kashmir”.

“This situation is not normal at all [in Kashmir]. People should understand this. No telephone is working there.

They [the government] say that landlines are working, but no, we tried. No internet is working, no telephone working,” the CPI leader said.

“Schools and colleges are open, but students are not going. Parents are not ready to send their children to schools. People are not able to go to the hospital. There is a curfew in Kashmir. Why should it continue [if everything is normal]?” he added.

He said the opposition leaders were first invited by the IoK’s Governor to come and see the situation in the territory, but he, Rahul Gandhi and other members of the opposition parties at the Srinagar airport, were not even allowed to meet the people or venture out of the airport.=DNA

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