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BJP condemns non-hoisting of Tricolour at Lal Chowk

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday condemned the Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision not to permit hoisting of the Tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Republic Day. Astonishingly, the government’s view was that hoisting the flag would be an “unnecessary provocation” to separatists, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.

Flag hoisting on Republic Day was taking place at Lal Chowk for the past 19 years.

It was the former BJP president, Murli Manohar Joshi, who, nearly 20 years ago, embarked on the “Ekta Yatra” from Kanyakumari to Srinagar to hoist the Tricolour at Lal Chowk at a time when militancy in the Valley was at its peak, Mr. Javadekar said.

Instead of boosting the morale of the security forces and people, who were firmly with India, the government chose to encourage a handful of separatists. The result was that while Pakistani flags fluttered in Kashmir on Tuesday, the Indian flag was not hoisted at the public square.

The decision was born out of cowardice and it was an insult to all patriotic citizens. While the Hurriyat, as always, called for a Kashmir ‘bandh’ on Republic Day, the State government added to the insult by succumbing to the separatists instead of meeting their challenge.

Mr. Javadekar said the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party were busy trading charges against each other for the price rise that had hit essential food items.

Speculators and hoarders profited by nearly Rs. 40,000 crore over the last six months — Rs. 20,000 crore as a result of the steep increase in the price of lentils, Rs. 10,000 crore on account of sugar and Rs. 10,000 crore as a result of high price of cereals, he alleged.

Even if the higher minimum support price for sugarcane, wheat and rice was to be taken into account, the price spiral witnessed in the last few months could not be justified, Mr. Javadekar said.

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