Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday took a swipe at Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, saying the administration today needed a posse of security personnel to carry the national flag, while first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru did it amidst ordinary people in 1949.
Her remarks came after Sinha, in an apparent reference to the PDP president, said those who claimed that there won’t be anyone left in Jammu and Kashmir to raise the tiranga should have seen the turnout at the rally.
Hitting back, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) said, “Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru with the tiranga standing tall amongst a sea of enthusiastic Kashmiris at Lal chowk Srinagar circa 1949. LG administration carrying the same national flag surrounded by a posse of security personnel in 2023”.
A mega ‘tiranga’ rally was held in Srinagar, as part of Independence Day celebrations, on Sunday with Sinha asserting that the youth of Jammu and Kashmir loves the national flag.
Sinha, without taking any names, said during the rally, “They, who used to say that there won’t be anyone left in Jammu and Kashmir to raise the tiranga, would have understood that every youth of Jammu and Kashmir loves the national flag as much as people from any other part of the country.”
Mufti, in the run-up to the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, had said if Jammu and Kashmir’s special status was revoked, there will be no one left to raise the national flag.
“Today people of Jammu and Kashmir are being hailed across the country. As we are combining the people’s power and taking the development towards the poor and underprivileged, some people cannot bear this,” Sinha said.
“There was a time when the youth of Kashmir was misled but today they are contributing to building the nation and Jammu and Kashmir. This is a proud moment for all of us. Let us come together and restore the status of Jammu and Kashmir as the jewel in the crown of India,” he added.
