Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah arrived at Jantar Mantar in an auto-rickshaw on Monday after claiming that he and other protesters were prevented from reaching the demonstration site, with videos of the unusual ride quickly going viral on social media.
Sharing the visuals on X, Abdullah said his planned walk to Jantar Mantar was interrupted, forcing him and others to switch to an auto-rickshaw.
"My walk from Jantar Mantar was about to turn into another procession so we grabbed the first available means of transport," he wrote.
Earlier, Abdullah alleged that authorities had stopped the National Conference leaders from holding a peaceful protest demanding the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood.
"We were stopped from getting to Jantar Mantar & stopped from protesting peacefully for what is rightfully ours but we were not silenced. This is only the beginning of our struggle for statehood, our rights, our dignity and everything that was taken away from us," he said in another post.
The National Conference staged a protest in the national capital seeking the restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. The demonstration, led by party president Farooq Abdullah outside Jammu and Kashmir House, saw party leaders and workers holding placards and raising slogans urging the Centre to fulfil its promise of restoring statehood.
Protesters raised slogans such as "Apna vaada poora karo" (Fulfil your promise) and "Jammu and Kashmir ke adhikar aur samman bahal karo" (Restore Jammu and Kashmir's rights and dignity).
Omar Abdullah also shared visuals of his father, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, participating in the protest and appeared to take a veiled swipe at Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti.
"Here is a 90-year-old man leading from the front for J&K's rights & dignity while some others sit at home posting tweets," Omar wrote, in an apparent dig at the PDP leader.
The National Conference has been demanding the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's full statehood ever since the erstwhile state was bifurcated and reorganised into two Union Territories following the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
