BAN ON ENTERING J&K SHOULD OUTRAGE ALL INDIANS

It is absolutely shocking that the Government of Jammu & Kashmir should have decided to bar the entry of senior BJP leaders into the State. On Monday, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Ms Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Arun Jaitley, and BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar were first prevented from getting off the aircraft in which they had travelled to Jammu and then barred from leaving the tarmac. After much persuasion, the three senior BJP leaders were taken to a room in the arrivals terminal of Jammu Airport from where they were arrested and taken away to an undisclosed location later in the evening. The authorities, obviously acting on the instructions of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, lamely cited the enforcement of Section 144 in defence of their abominable behaviour and indefensible action. That law, however, does not apply in this case. While it is true that the three leaders had gone to Jammu to address a rally as part of the Ekta Yatra which is scheduled to conclude with the hoisting of the National Tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, there is nothing illegal about doing so. Mr Abdullah has let it be known that he will not allow the Ekta Yatra to enter the State, leave alone unfurl the Tricolour in the heart of Srinagar. Ostensibly, his objection — as also those of the Congress — is aimed at ensuring separatists in the Kashmir Valley do not feel offended and secessionist sentiments are not hurt at the sight of the Tricolour fluttering in Srinagar's most prominent public square. In brief, national pride and the right to fly the national flag have been suborned to the despicable urge to mollycoddle separatists and secessionists whose hearts beat for Pakistan and who routinely hoist the Pakistani flag in Srinagar and elsewhere. Whom in Mr Abdullah batting for? And why is the Congress so keen to prevent the hoisting of the Tricolour in Srinagar? Have certain commitments been made by the Prime Minister of which we, the nation, are ignorant? The issue, however, goes beyond the BJP's political programme. It is about the right of any Indian to fly the national flag anywhere in the country, more so on Independence Day and Republic Day. This right is being crudely abridged by the National Conference and the Congress for reasons that should shame us as a nation. Over the past week, the Government has resorted to strong-arm measures that remind us of the crackdown on Opposition activists and the un-constitutional means that were adopted to silence the voice of the masses during Mrs Indira Gandhi's Emergency. Trains are being diverted; preemptive arrests are being made; security forces are being mobilised; and, a reign of terror has been unleashed on nationalists in Jammu & Kashmir. It would almost seem that between themselves, Mr Abdullah and his patrons in the Congress have declared Jammu & Kashmir a separate entity where the freedoms and liberties enshrined in the Constitution of India do not exist. This is manna from heaven for the separatists — they could not have asked for anything better. Meanwhile, what we are witnessing is a needless confrontation that will not fetch either the Congress or the National Conference any political benefits. If anything, it will be a blow to democracy in India. Unless resisted, we could witness the emergence of a police state under Congress tutelage. The Tricolour must fly high at Lal Chowk.