Days after being released from detention, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti denounced the Indian Tricolour, saying she won’t raise the flag until the former flag of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir is restored.
“Our relationship with India’s flag is linked to our relationship with Jammu and Kashmir’s flag. It’s not an independent relationship. The national flag is here only because of this (the Jammu and Kashmir) flag and constitution,” Ms Mufti said on Friday.
Mehbooba Mufti, PDP: Our relationship with the flag of this country is not independent of this flag (Jammu and Kashmir’s flag). When this flag comes in our hand, we will raise that flag too. https://t.co/bwkwA2ggme
— ANI (@ANI) October 23, 2020
In her first press conference after she was released from her 14-month long detention, the former chief minister said that her fight is not restricted to reinstatement of Article 370 alone, but for the resolution of the longstanding Kashmir issue as well.
BJP demands arrests of Mehbooba Mufti for her remarks on Indian Tricolour
While Mehbooba Mufti made a case for the restoration of Article 370, the BJP, on the other hand, demanded the arrest of the PDP chief, claiming her refusal to unfurl the Indian flag amounted to sedition. The Jammu and Kashmir president Ravinder Raina called for the arrest of Mehbooba Mufti for her defiance of the national flag.
“I request Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to take cognisance of seditious remarks of Mehbooba Mufti, book her for the seditious act and put her behind bars,” Raina said while adding, “We will sacrifice every drop of our blood for our flag, country and motherland. J-K is an integral part of our country, so only one flag can be hoisted in J-K and that is the national flag.”
Union Minister Jitendra Singh made critical remarks of the PDP chief for her statements on the Indian flag.
Mehbooba Mufti claims to be a mainstream politician but she has reservations in carrying the tricolour. We’ve maintained for last several yrs that Kashmir’s so-called politicians sometimes tend to be more dangerous than apparently identified separatists: Union Min Jitendra Singh pic.twitter.com/IBHg0rouJI
— ANI (@ANI) October 23, 2020
Referring to Mehbooba Mufti, Singh said that his party has maintained for last several years that Kashmir’s so-called politicians are sometimes more dangerous than the avowed separatists.
Congress condemns Mufti’s statements as “unacceptable”
Mufti’s disobedience of the Indian tricolour also elicited a sharp response from the Congress party. The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee on Friday condemned her statements, saying such remarks are intolerable and unacceptable in any society. said her statement has hurt sentiments of the people. JKPCC chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said that such statements will defeat the democratic and constitutional struggle for achieving any just right.
