BJP rejects Kashmir’s flag; threatens stir

Jammu • The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that it does not recognise the separate flag and the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and would launch an agitation for the state’s full integration with the rest of India when it comes to these symbols of sovereignty. Reacting to the demand to book state BJP president Ashok Khajuria for his remarks on Monday that the state’s official flag and the constitution had no sanctity, state unit vice president and spokesperson Hari Om dared the Ghulam Nabi Azad government to arrest the leader and “be prepared for consequences’.

“We believe in what we are saying. We have no ambivalence on this,” Hari Om said yesterday.

“The BJP believes in only one flag and one constitution of India. We don’t recognise any other symbol in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

Hari Om accompanied by former BJP state president, D K Kotwal and state general secretary Shamsher Singh Manhas said that the NC, which demands semi-independence for the state and the ruling Congress, which seeks to empower Pakistan to share sovereignty with India in the state, have no right to question the credentials of the BJP and its state president, who are discharging duties towards the nation.

The BJP leaders questioned: “Had Congress or NC demanded legal proceedings against the hardline Hurriyat chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others who are in a programme, in which BJP state president also participated, condemned India and the Army and termed India as an oppressive state”.

Meanwhile, leaders of the main Opposition party National Conference have raised the pitch for Khajuria’s arrest, saying the BJP had insulted the state’s symbols.The BJP has for years demanded abrogation of Article 370 of the constitution that grants a special status to the border state.