Tricolour is sacrosanct, it will fly high in J&K, says MoS PMO on Mehbooba’s remarks

The Centre has strongly protested against J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti's remarks on the Indian tricolour.

New Delhi, July 29: The rift between the ruling alliance partners in Jammu and Kashmir--Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)--is out in the open after Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday warned that nobody will hold the Indian tricolour in Kashmir if the Article 35(A) is tampered with.

In reply to the CM's statement, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh on Saturday said that the "tricolour is sacrosanct to us". "It will fly high in J&K as much as it does in any other state of the Indian Union," Singh added.

PDP chief Mehbooba is running a coalition government in the state with the BJP. The state BJP unit said that Mehbooba's comment on tricolour were "politically incorrect".

"The statement of CM of J&K on Article 35(A) doesn't depict true picture and is politically incorrect," said chief spokesperson of the BJP, Sunil Sethi. Sethi said that Article 35(A) and 370 have "only led to disparity and inequalities in the state".

"As Article 35(A) saves state subject laws from applicability of concept of equality, it has led to situation on unequal treatment of female state subjects and their children within state (sic)."

"Any tinkering with the article won't be acceptable. I won't hesitate in saying that nobody will even carry the corpse of the National Flag in Kashmir (if the article is scrapped). Let me make it very clear," Mehbooba said at an event on Kashmir in Srinagar.

The CM's warning holds significance as the Article 35(A) has been challenged in the Supreme Court. The Article 35(A) of the constitution empowers the state legislature to define "permanent residents" and accord special rights and privileges to them.

Strongly defending the constitutional clause, Mehbooba said that any change in its status would invite repercussions and mean that nobody would be able to protect the Indian national flag in J&K.

Speaking about the arrest of separatist leaders by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) recently, Mehbooba said the arrests were just an administrative measure and will not solve the real problem.

"The NIA arrests do not solve any problems; they are just an administrative measure. An administrative measure can not help us to resolve the situation and cannot address the real problem of Kashmir. It is important to replace it with a better idea," she said.

Once again taking a contrary view to Mehbooba's statement on separatist leaders, Singh said all should respect law.

"All of us must respect law of the land and allow agencies to do their job to best of their wisdom and discretion," Singh added.

Mehbooba has asked the Centre to revive the Lahore Declaration signed between India and Pakistan in 1999 on Saturday.

"I appeal to the Centre to revive the Lahore declaration so that we can live peacefully in J&K," the CM said.

Currently, peace talks between India and Pakistan have come to a halt in the wake of Pakistan's continuous violation of ceasefire agreements along the LoC and its support to cross-border terrorism in J&K.

OneIndia News