J&K Accession Day: BJP leads Tiranga rallies in different parts of the UT

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 26

The Tricolour “provocation” by PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti has led the BJP to giving a new colour to Accession Day celebrations in Jammu and Kashmir. Saffron cadres on Monday hoisted Tricolour and led ‘Tiranga’ rallies in different parts of the UT, including in Srinagar and Jammu.

In Srinagar, BJP leaders led the ‘tiranga’ rally via the Gupkar road where residences of top leaders, including NC chief Farooq Abdullah, are located.

PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti recently said she would not hold the Indian Tricolour until Jammu and Kashmir gets back its erstwhile state flag.

In Jammu, BJP spokesperson Abhijeet Singh Jasrotia, who is also the general secretary of Shree Amar Kshatriya Rajput Sabha, burnt the flag and Constitution of the erstwhile state. “They have lost their meaning after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A,” said Jasrotia.

“The Rajput biradari and Dogras of Jammu are ready to strike back at the anti-national and rejected leaders of Kashmiri groups. At the appropriate time we will retrieve the ownership of lands held by the Jammu Dogras in Kashmir.

“We are in the process of forming a Rajput youth brigade, which will settle in Kashmir to carry forward the nationalist agenda and honour the sacrifices of the brave Rajput Dogra warriors who guarded and extended the boundaries of J&K to Aksai Chin, Tibet, Gilgit, Baltistan and PoK,” said Jasrotia.

He said the organisation had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi,  demanding “retrieval of the territories of Maharaja-ruled Dogra state at the time of accession to India which are under illegal control of China and Pakistan”.

According to BJP's Kashmir media in-charge Manzoor Bhatt, the ‘Tiranga’ rally led by state general secretary Vibodh Gupta and vice-president and co-in charge, Kashmir, Sofi Yusaf, received “overwhelming response from local people of Kashmir”.

“The response to the rally is a tight slap to so-called leaders of Kashmir who have made seditious statements in the past few days. The response to the rally is a testimony to the fact that Gupkar declaration leaders are living in fool's paradise,” Bhatt added.

Vibodh Gupta called upon youth of J&K to “not fall in the trap of separatist and power-hungry political parties like PDP and NC and commit themselves towards the cause of peace and prosperity”. 

Sofi Yusaf added:  “We are proud to be an integral part of India. Few power-hungry leaders are dancing on the beats of Pakistan and be-fooling the youth of Valley to fulfill their agendas.”

In Jammu, former Deputy CM Kavinder Gupta talked about development and prosperity after abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A

According to reports some PDP leaders also quit Mehbooba’s party in protest against her statement

In Srinagar, officials said three persons, claiming to be BJP workers from Kupwara district, were detained while trying to hoist the Tricolour at the historic clock tower at Lal Chowk.

On this day in 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh, the then ruler of J&K, had signed the Instrument of Accession of J&K with Union of India.

Jammu and Kashmir had a separate Constitution and a flag before the Narendra Modi-led Centre revoked its special status in August last year.

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