Have never banned books, never will, says J&K CM Omar Abdullah

L-G administration had forfeited 25 books by prominent authors

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday (August 8, 2025) distanced himself from the recent ban on 25 books by the Lieutenant-Governor’s administration.

“Get your facts right before you call me a coward, you ignoramus. The ban has been imposed by the L-G using the only department he officially controls – the Home Department. I’ve never banned books and I never would,” Mr. Abdullah said in a post on X.

The J&K Home department, which comes under the Lieutenant-Governor, invoked Section 98 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 on Wednesday to categorise 25 books as “forfeited for propagating false narrative and secessionism”.

There is growing opposition to the L-G administration’s move to list books of prominent writers such as Christopher Snedden, A.G. Noorani, Sumantra Bose, Ayesha Jalal, Sugata Bose; Arundhati Roy, Stephen P. Cohen, Anuradha Bhasin, Seema Qazi, etc. as “forfeited” in J&K. (TH)