Yechury, Raja not allowed to enter Srinagar 

CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and his CPI counterpart D Raja were not allowed to enter Srinagar on Friday, after they reached there to meet party workers, with the leaders accusing the Centre of trampling on democratic rights.

Yechury and Raja flew from Delhi to Srinagar in the morning but were not allowed to step out of the airport and were sent back to the national capital.

On Thursday, both leaders had written to Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik, informing him they would be in Srinagar to meet party workers. Yechury said he wanted to meet Mohd Yusuf Tarigami, a six-term MLA who is under house arrest and not keeping well, and others.

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However, as they were not allowed, Yechury wrote a letter to Tarigami from the Srinagar airport, saying he had come there to see him and through him express his solidarity and commitment to defend democracy and secularism.

"Authorities here have confined us. Comrade Raja is with me, at the airport and police and the District Magistrate have orders not to allow us to leave the airport. We are trying to meet you, but if not allowed, hope at least this note reaches you," Yechury wrote. He said the administration has assured him that they would deliver it to Tarigami.

After their return to Delhi in the evening, Yechury and Raja said they had informed the Governor. "We went there after informing the Governor. Yet we were not allowed. Some truth is not out yet. If everything is alright there, why we were stopped," Yechury told a press conference.

Raja said there was uncertainty in the minds of people. "We did not go there as underground party workers," he said.