Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of “psychologically surrendering” to Kashmir separatists by describing the party youth wing’s decision to hoist the national flag in Srinagar as “divisive.” Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley told media persons: “When two people (referring to author Arundhati Roy and Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani) speak in New Delhi about the segregation of the (Jammu and Kashmir) territory, it passes of as a right to free expression. But when as an assertion of India’s sovereignty, the national flag is sought to be hoisted in Srinagar, it is dubbed as divisive”.

“No penal action has been taken against these two people when they talked about the segregation of the Kashmir,” Jaitley pointed out.

The BJP youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha has launched a Rashtriya Ekta Yatra (national unity march) to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Republic Day.

Jaitley said the prime minister’s stand was “unacceptable”. He wondered how could the hoisting of the national flag be “divisive and provocative”.

“We completely reject describing as divisive the peaceful assertion of nationalist sentiments”, the party leader stressed.

The Rashtriya Ekta Yatra, led by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) chief Anurag Thakur, was flagged off Jan 12 from Kolkata. After passing through 11 states it will complete the Punjab leg of the journey Monday.

The journey will enter Jammu and Kashmir from Lakhanpur border, according to the BJYM plan. It is the same border point that was taken by founder president of erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh Doctor Syama Prasad Mookerjee 58 years back.

Mookerjee was opposed to giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir and had described it as an appeasement. He was minister for industry and supply in Jawaharlal Nehru’s government, but subsequently resigned from it.

Jaitley slammed the Jammu and Kashmir government and the centre for unleashing a reign of repression on BJYM workers going to Srinagar.

“The disproportionate reaction” from the state and the central governments pointed to the “state of panic” they were in, he said.

Jaitley alleged that unconstitutional and undemocratic methods were being employed to stop the Yatra.

“All the entry points to Jammu and Kashmir are being sealed”, he said, expressing concern over large scale arrests of BJYM activists in the Kashmir valley.

Jaitley also dealt with the question of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee asking the opposition to join Maoists if they had to continue with stalling the parliament.

The finance minister needs to be more restrained in his remarks, Jaitley said, adding that obstructing parliamentary proceedings in the “rarest of rare” situations was a part of parliamentary functioning.

He said that Congress too, when it was in the opposition, had resorted to similar obstructions. “We never compared it with Maoists,” the leader added.

Jaitley said that it would be better if Mukherjee advised Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, a UPA partner, to keep a “safe distance” from the Maoists in West Bengal.

On the developments in Karnataka, Jaitley said Chief Minister Yeddyurappa will meet senior party leaders when he arrives in the capital.

Yeddyurappa is reaching Delhi to hold talks with the senior party leaders in the wake of Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj granting sanction for his prosecution over his alleged involvement in a land scam.

Senior BJP leaders along with Yeddyurappa will also be meeting President Pratibha Patil Monday to protest against Bhardwaj’s action and seeking his recall.