Why national flag hoisting prevented in Srinagar? asks Shiv Sena

The Shiv Sena on Wednesday (October 28) questioned why youth were prevented by the police from hoisting the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar despite the abrogation of Article 370.

An editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana also asked what has changed in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, and said, “Hindutva means nationalism.”

Three people, claiming to be BJP workers from Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir, were on Monday detained while trying to hoist the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar.

“The duplicate mardani who calls Mumbai PoK is given security by the central government, while the youth who hoist the tricolour in Kashmir are taken away by police,” the Sena mouthpiece said without naming actress Kangana Ranaut.

“The nation wants to know why the youth could not hoist the tricolour at Lal Chowk? This means Kashmir’s situation has not improved,” the editorial said.

In Mumbai, the tricolour is hoisted and this means “it is not Pakistan”, it said, adding that “the triclour is insulted where there is Pakistani interference”.

The actress should vent her anger at the tricolour not being allowed in Kashmir, it said without naming Ranaut.

Ranaut’s remark equating Mumbai with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Pok) had led to a furore, drawing the battle-lines between the Shiv Sena and her.

The editorial claimed former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said China’s help will be sought to restore Article 370 in the Union Territory, and it also criticised PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti over her comments on the national flag.

“This is sedition,” it said.

The National Conference on Monday denied that its president Farooq Abdullah had made such a remark.

Mufti last week said she was not interested in contesting elections or holding the tricolour till the constitutional changes enforced on August 5 last year were rolled back.

The Sena editorial claimed that over a year after the abrogation of Article 370, not a single rupee investment has come to Kashmir, unemployed youth are taking up arms again and local leaders are misleading them.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)