BJP today charged thegovernment with trying to divert the attention of the peoplefrom the issue of corruption by not allowing party leaders tohoist the national flag in Srinagar. "I believe the UPA government and the Jammu and Kashmir (J & K) government are not giving the approval to hoist flag(at Lal Chowk in Srinagar) to create a situation which divertsthe attention of the people from the issue of corruption,"former BJP President Rajnath Singh, who is sitting on a hungerstrike at Rajghat over the issue, said here. He claimed that despite restrictions, the BJP youthwing activists will abide by democratic norms to oppose theban imposed. He said hoisting of the national flag in Srinagarbecomes all the more important against the backdrop of thestatement of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullahthat the state had only acceded to India through a treaty andnot merged with it. "Will any Indian accept this. After such a statement,shouldn''t we say that Jammu and Kashmir is and will be aninseparable part of India...wherever we feel, be it Jammu orSrinagar, we can hoist the national flag," he said. Accusing the state government of succumbing to thepressure of separatists, he said the decision to ban the entryof BJP leaders in the state will send a wrong message to thecountrymen and the international community. "This will indicate that separatists have won againstnationalist forces in their own country," he said.
Authorities in India on Tuesday blocked all road links between Kashmir and neighbouring states to prevent Hindu nationalists from holding a rally in the sensitive region. The right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had planned to pour young Hindu volunteers into the Muslim-majority region for India's Republic Day on Wednesday and raise the national flag in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. Kashmir is home to a long and violent separatist uprising, and Indian officials fear the BJP's proposed rally could trigger major communal unrest. A stand-off developed Tuesday in the town of Madhopur on the border between Punjab state and Kashmir as police stopped about 3,000 BJP activists from crossing a bridge on their way to Srinagar. "We will not allow anyone to enter Kashmir today. All borders have been sealed and highways are blocked," Gareeb Das, a senior police officer stationed in Madhopur town, told AFP. "Multi-tearshell launcher vehicles and water cannons have been deployed at all entry points." The BJP said it was determined to get to Srinagar. "No one has the right to stop us from hoisting the Indian flag in Kashmir. We will not change our plan," Anurag Thakur, president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the BJP, told AFP. India's Home Minister P. Chidambaram has appealed to the BJP to respect the orders of the Kashmir state government and call off the flag-hoisting plan. Pro-independence Kashmiris have also vowed to protest on Republic Day, raising fears of a return to violence after massive anti-India protests last year in which at least 100 protesters were killed. The Kashmir region is jointly administered by India and Pakistan, but claimed in full by both. For 20 years, a separatist insurgency has raged in the Indian sector, claiming 47,000 lives.
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