Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) has expressed dismay over the “failure” of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to address the “unjust imprisonment” and denial of oath taking of Member Parliament elected Abdul Rashid Sheikh aka Engineer Rashid.
A Delhi court on July 2 has allowed custody parole to Rashid to take oath as a Member of Parliament on July 5.
Engineer Rashid, who is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail in alleged terror funding for the past several years, won the Parliament elections as an independent candidate from the Baramulla Lok Sabha Constituency of Jammu and Kashmir.
Rashid, a two-time legislator from Kashmir defeated former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone, and is incarcerated under what the Awami Ittehad Party describes as “baseless charges”.
“Despite Gandhi’s frequent displays of the Constitution during his campaign and his proclamation as a champion of constitutional values and justice, he has remained silent on Rashid’s matter”, Firdous Baba, spokesperson for the Awami Ittehad Party said.
He said despite Rashid’s resounding electoral mandate and the trust placed in him by his constituents, Rashid was not allowed to take oath in Parliament during the session.
Baba, said that as Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi has a responsibility to advocate for justice to people like Engineer Rashid.
“The party expressed dismay at what they perceive as a selective application of Gandhi’s professed commitment to the Constitution, particularly in the case of grassroots leaders like Engineer Rashid”, he said.
“It is evident that Gandhi and his party are not supportive of the rise of ordinary citizens to leadership roles that truly represent the people,” remarked Baba. “We had expected him to speak out against the injustice faced by Engineer Rashid, whose electoral victory was significant and undeniable.”
