‘I’ve never banned books & I never would’ : Omar Abdullah

SRINAGAR — Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said the ban on 25 books authored by acclaimed national and international writers has only been imposed by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha.

Omar was responding to a social media post last night urging him to “unban the books”.

“Unban the books. For the rest of your life, you will be known as the coward who was scared of books. Unban the books,” a netizen posted while tagging Omar Abdullah.

Omar said he has never banned books and never would.

“Get your facts right before you call me a coward, you ignoramus. The ban has been imposed by the LG using the only department he officially controls – the Home Department. I’ve never banned books & I never would,” Omar wrote on X.

On August 5, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha’s administration “forfeited” 25 books on Kashmir, saying they propagate “false narrative and secessionism in Jammu and Kashmir”.

The banned books included ‘The Kashmir Dispute 914-2012’ by noted constitutional expert A G Noorani, ‘Kashmir at Crossroads’ and ‘Contested Lands’ by Sumantra Bose, ‘In Search of Future — The Kashmir Story’ by David Devdas, Arundhati Roy’s ‘Azadi’, and ‘A Dismantled State — The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370’ by Anuradha Bhasin.

J&K Police yesterday launched a massive drive across the Kashmir Valley to seize the banned books from bookstores.