Citing “red carpet welcome” to the controversial visit of EU delegation, CPI leader Binoy Viswam on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting that he should be allowed to visit Jammu & Kashmir since a foreign delegation was given entry. “It is everybody’s question, why the Government disallow any responsible Indian citizen, including Members of Parliament, to enter the territory of Kashmir. Now, the Government has spread red carpet for the European Union MPs, said the CPI leader.
“In this background, I seek your permission to visit Kashmir and meet with the ordinary people,” Viswam said in his letter. As an Indian citizen, it was his right to visit fellow citizens in Kashmir, he added. The politburo of the CPI(M) said in a statement on Tuesday that it was an “affront” of the Indian Parliament and its sovereignty that Indian MPs and political leadership of national parties are denied the freedom of visiting the Valley while a “private visit” by foreign Parliament members was being allowed. “Though it is claimed that this is a private visit, the Prime Minister has met them and they are also being briefed by the National Security Advisor. There can be no special privilege for a group of foreign parliamentarians to visit the Valley while it is denied to others, including our own MPs and national political leadership, with most of the known political leaders of the State continuing to remain in custody and detention,” the letter said.