On Wednesday, the Shiv Sena, a Hindu-nationalist political party from the mainland, asked why some youth were prevented by police from hoisting the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar despite the abrogation of Article 370.
An editorial in Sena mouthpiece, Saamana, also asked what has changed in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, and said “Hindutva means nationalism”.
Earlier, on Monday, three people associated with BJP workers from north Kashmir’s Kupwara, were detained while trying to hoist the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. The Sena editorial claimed that over a year after the abrogation of Article 370, not a single rupee investment has come to Kashmir, unemployed youth are taking up arms again and local leaders are misleading them.
“The nation wants to know why the youth could not hoist the tricolour at Lal Chowk? This means Kashmir’s situation hasn’t improved,” the editorial said, reported a local newspaper.
The editorial further claimed that former J-K CM Farooq Abdullah said help of China will be sought to restore Article 370 in the Union Territory, and also criticised PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti over her comments on the national flag. “This is sedition,” it said.
However, the National Conference had denied that its president Farooq Abdullah had made such a remark. Ms. Mufti last week said she was not interested in contesting elections or holding the tricolour till the constitutional changes enforced on 5 August last year were rolled back.