A week after the Congress said that hoisting the national flag at Lal Chowk is “part of RSS agenda”, party leader Rahul Gandhi, in a sudden change of plan, unfurled the Tricolour at the city centre in Srinagar Sunday. The original plan was to hoist the national flag at the party’s Srinagar office on Monday.
Rahul hoisted the Tricolour here exactly 75 years after his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru did so for the first time at Lal Chowk, where he also promised the right of self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “By hoisting the Tricolour at Lal Chowk, the promise made to India was fulfilled today,” Rahul tweeted. “Hate will lose, love will always win. There will be a new dawn of hope in India”.
The Congress attributed the sudden change in its plan to the last-minute “permission” granted by the administration. “Originally, the plan was that we will unfurl the national flag tomorrow, which is the last day of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. We didn’t get permission for Lal Chowk for January 30,” said Jairam Ramesh, Congress leader in charge of communications.
“Yesterday after discussion with the state officials, they conceded our demand but for the 29th. They said you can unfurl the national flag on the 29th. So we changed our programme at the last minute and today Mr Rahul Gandhi has unfurled the national flag at Lal Chowk, something that was done for the first time 75 years ago by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,” he said.
When asked about Nehru’s promise to hold a plebiscite to the people of Jammu and Kashmir at historic Lal Chowk, Ramesh said: “I have said what I have to say”.
Last week, Rajni Patil, Congress MP and in-charge for Jammu and Kashmir, had said that Rahul Gandhi will hoist the Tricolour at the Congress headquarters in Srinagar on January 30 and not at Lal Chowk as unfurling it there was part of the “RSS agenda”.
In 1992, the then BJP President Murli Manohar Joshi announced his plan to hoist the Tricolour at Lal Chowk on Republic Day. Joshi and many of his party colleagues, including Narendra Modi hoisted the flag amid a curfew and security clampdown. Militants had targeted the flag hoisting ceremony by firing rockets at Lal Chowk.
Patil said the national flag will be unfurled again at the Congress’ Srinagar office “which is also in Lal Chowk, by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge” on Monday.
On the last day of Rahul’s yatra, the march started from Pantha chowk, on the outskirts of Srinagar city, in the morning. A large number of people were waiting on the roadside to welcome Rahul Gandhi and his Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“This is a march against the hate that is being spread in the country,” said a woman at Sonawar, who, along with a group of other women, was waiting to welcome the Congress leader. “Rahul ji has decided to fight against this hate and we are here to support him. He is talking about hate, corruption and unemployment and we are also its victims”.
There was massive security deployment in Srinagar city and police had barricaded all roads leading to the yatra route. As a security measure, no movement of vehicles was allowed three kilometres from the yatra venue. As a result, a large number of party workers could not reach the march.
“We have been waiting here for an hour but they are not allowing us to move on,” said a group of youths, travelling in a car which was stopped at Srinagar’s Jehangir Chowk. “This is being deliberately done to sabotage the yatra”. A police official at the checkpoint said they had strict orders not to allow anyone without a security pass.
While the original plan was that the yatra would stop at Nehru Park on the banks of Dal Lake, Rahul’s march was halted near Gupkar and he travelled to Lal Chowk in a convoy of vehicles where he unfurled the Tricolour.
On Monday, Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to address a public rally at the Sher-i-Kashmir Cricket Stadium in Srinagar to which leaders of Opposition parties have also been invited. The public rally will mark an end to the 4,080 km yatra that took over 140 days to complete. The meteorological department in Srinagar, however, has forecast snowfall on Monday.
