Will unfurl tricolour in Srinagar on Jan 26 come what may: BJP

BJP on Sunday asserted it will hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Republic Day despite the "suppressive methods" of the UPA and the Omar Adullah Government in Jammu and Kashmir.

"...let me warn the Government: You can suppress by various methods our agitation, but we will unfurl the flag at Srinagar on 26th January. That's definite," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told a press conference in Bangalore.

He said, "We know how to reach Jammu, how to reach Srinagar, if the Government adopts suppressive methods. We will reach."

On the halting the train in Maharashtra carrying BJP youth wing activists from Karnataka to Srinagar for the January 26 event, and sending them back to the state, he condemned and termed it "undemocratic", saying it's akin to emergency days of 1975.

He said that the activists had valid tickets till Jammu but still were not allowed to go. "Under what law?" he asked.

On Prime Minister's statement that such "divisive programmes" (tiranga yatra) should not be held, Javadekar asked, "What is divisive in it?" The Prime Minister's statement suggests that it's "crime" to unfurl the national flag on Indian soil in Srinagar.

"(Kashmir) people are patriots. There are only a few separatists who oppose. Every year on 26th January and 15th August, separatists burn Indian flags and unfurl the Pakistan flag. That's more worrisome. That is anti-national. That's a real challenge to law and order," Javadekar said.

He said, "But it seems that the government has surrendered to the separatists and that's why they allow Indian flags to be burnt. They allow Pakistani flags to be unfurled and that does not create law and order situation for Omar Abdullah.

But hoisting an Indian flag on Indian soil is now being made to be a crime."