New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has allowed television shoot of a Hindi-language series of Maharani inside the closed assembly complex. The development came amidst persistent demand by political parties of the Union territory to conduct elections and begin assembly proceedings, and has thus led leaders to protest.

Officials confirmed to The Telegraph that the Maharani crew began shooting the Huma Qureshi starrer back in October last year but it has come to public knowledge only recently, leading leaders to hit out at Sinha’s administration. Maharani is inspired by real life political events in Bihar of the 1990s. Qureshi plays the chief minister of the state.

National Conference leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah said that the administration’s decision to allow TV shoot in the assembly premises, even when political leaders are kept out of the building, is an “absolute shame”. He posted pictures of the TV shoot on social media to say that this was “the true face of the mother of democracy”, where elected representatives were denied entry but not commercial enterprises.

“The true face of ‘the mother of democracy’, where once elected representatives of the people from all parties, religions, backgrounds & parts of J&K legislated on matters of great importance now actors & extras use it as a set for TV dramas,” the former chief minister posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.

“What a shame that the BJP driven government in J&K has reduced the symbol of democracy, where they once sat & governed, to this sorry state of affairs. They (Maharani’s makers) even have a fake CM coming out of an office I was privileged to occupy for 6 years. What an absolute shame!!!!”

The J&K Assembly has not functioned since former governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the House on December 20, 2018, six months after BJP withdrew its support to the Mehbooba Mufti government. A controversy erupted when Mehbooba claimed that she had attempted to contact the governor to stake a claim to form the government again with the support of Abdullah's National Conference, but she alleged that all her faxes had failed to go through.

Malik later claimed that the fax machine in his office was malfunctioning at that time. Abdullah had responded by wondering about the “strange fax machine which works and stops as per different directions”.

“It does not receive the letter for claim for government formation but letter ordering dissolution of assembly is sent through it. It is like traffic men in Srinagar who allow one way traffic on roads,” Omar said, adding that “This is also a one way fax, there is no incoming fax but only outgoing fax.”

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