Advani urges govt to support tricolour yatra in Valley

Referring to critics calling the BJP youth wing’s yatra to hoist the tricolour in Srinagar “provocative”, party leader LK Advani said on Thursday that provocations alone led to achievements.

Referring to critics calling the BJP youth wing’s yatra to hoist the tricolour in Srinagar “provocative”, party leader LK Advani said on Thursday that provocations alone led to achievements.

HT Image

He urged the government to help the yatra, cautioning it against committing a Kashmir blunder when it was already facing corruption charges.

Addressing BJP youth wing activists to mark the arrival of BJYM chief Anurag Thakur’s yatra in the Capital, Advani said, “Achievements never happen without provocation,” Advani said. “Had (Syama Prasad) Mukherjee not insisted on going to Kashmir without a permit, the increased post-1953 integration of the state with India would not have happened.”

He recalled that it was only after Mukherjee’s visit and “mysterious death” there that the permit system to enter the state ended, and the powers of the Supreme Court, Elecetion Commission and the CAG were extended to the state.

He attacked J&K CM Omar Abdullah over his opposition to the yatra: “What provocation is he talking about? Hoisting the tricolour should be provocation only for enemies of the nation.”

Advani also said he felt vindicated over two issues he had raised in 2009: the PM’s “weakness” and the need to bring back black money stashed abroad.