Hoisting Tricolor at Lal Chowk is part of RSS agenda, Rahul will unfurl flag in party office: Congress

Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra will enter Kashmir on Thursday.

Srinagar, Jan 18: Rahul Gandhi will not unfurl the national flag at Lal Chowk as it a part of RSS agenda, AICC in-charge of Jammu & Kashmir and party MP Rajni Patil said.

Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will enter Jammu and Kashmir on January 19. Rajni Patil claimed that Gandhi will instead hoist the flag at the party headquarters in Srinagar. "We do not believe in the agenda of the RSS to hoist the Tricolour at Lal Chowk, where it has already flown high," she is quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Rahul Gandhi will also address a public rally and meeting delegations in Lakhanpur and Udhampur. "On January 30, a big gathering is planned at 'Sher-e-Kashmir' Stadium we have invited 23 Party leaders and other leaders will join. We will hoist the National Flag in our office in Lal Chowk," said Rajni Patil.

However, the BJP has not taken this statement lightly and hit out at Congress. "Making Lal Chowk, which had been the nerve centre of separatism, the nerve centre of nationalism will be the answer to all separatist activities there. Unfurling the Tricolour there is not RSS agenda, but it is India vs separatist forces in Kashmir, and Lal Chowk being the nerve centre of Kashmir politics, only nationalist forces shall be there," BJP's Jammu and Kashmir chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi said.

He then targeted Congress and National Conference saying that both the parties utilised Lal Chowk as a symbol of specific ideology since 1947 and hoisting a national flag would make PDP and National Conference uncomfortable. "If one wants to ignore its historical importance, it is one's own choice, but it is a big thing that the tricolour is unfurled there," he said.

According to Rajni Patil, Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah Sanjay Raut, MY Tarigami and Mehbooba Mufti will join the yatra at diffrent locations.

On the other hand, Mebooba Mufti's People's Democratic Party have erected hoardings welcoming Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra. "He brings a message of love & peace at a time when the country is being fuelled by hatred. We welcome his efforts to heal these wounds," she tweeted.