Three senior leaders of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) resigned yesterday to protest against party president Mehbooba Mufti’s stand on the national flag.
In a letter to Mufti, a former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, T S Bajwa, Ved Mahajan and Hussain Waffa said they were feeling “uncomfortable” over some of her actions and remarks which hurt their patriotic feelings.
These leaders were with the PDP since the days of her father, late Mufti Mohamed Sayeed.
Speaking at her first press conference on Friday after she was released from 14-month detention, Mufti said her party would not hoist the Indian flag unless they were allowed to raise the flag of Jammu and Kashmir also.
Before the central government abolished Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5 last year, it had a separate flag and a separate constitution applicable concomitantly with the country’s constitution and the national flag.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party workers took out a ‘Tiranga (tricolour) rally’ in Srinagar yesterday to protest against Mufti’s comments on the national flag.
Senior leaders of the state BJP and party workers raised slogans during the car rally held amid tight security.
The rally passed by the residences of former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mufti on the Gupkar Road in Srinagar.
BJP leader Altaf Thakur said: “Today, we mark the accession of Jammu and Kashmir... All religions are treated equally in India; we are Indians and we salute the national flag.”
He said that the Gupkar alliance forged by the mainstream parties was a “dynastic alliance to mislead the people”.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists wave a national flag during a demonstration outside the residence of former chief minister and Peoples’ Democratic Party president (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar yesterday following her remarks that she will hoist the Indian flag only when J&K’s flag is returned to the state.
