Opinion Flying the Republics flag
What legal right does the J&k state government have to detain and deport the two leaders of the opposition?
The Ekta Yatra of the BJPs Youth Wing covered 3500 km and passed through 12 states. It was a peaceful display of nationalism. The Yuva Morcha wanted to assert every Indians right to fly the national flag on every inch of Indian soil.
Why do it in Kashmir and not in Chhattisgarh? asked J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. A good question,which he himself should endeavour to answer. The chief minister of no other state had an objection to hoisting of the national flag. It is only he who objected. The environment he created in the Kashmir valley is such that an attempt to hoist the national flag in Srinagar will provoke the separatists. It will be seen as an anti-Kashmiri move. He,therefore,launched a war on the Yatra.
The national flag is a symbol of Indias honour and pride. Pandit Nehru described it in the Constituent Assembly as a flag of freedom not for ourselves but a symbol of freedom for all people who may seek it. The member from the Anglo-Indian community,Frank Anthony said that while this is a symbol of our past,it inspires us for the future. This flag flies as a flag of the nation and it should be the duty of and privilege of every Indian not only to cherish and live under it but if necessary,to die for it.
The Supreme Court,while hearing the case of Naveen Jindal,now a Congress MP,described flying the flag as free speech,intended to highlight nationalism,patriotism and love for the motherland. The use of the national flag to express these sentiments is a fundamental right. When several separatists met at an auditorium in New Delhi three months ago to assault the very idea of India,calling it an unnatural nation-state that is bound to disintegrate,they openly advocated the segregation of its territory from the Indian union. This seditious exercise was described as free speech. The Central government expressed its inability to take any action. However,the Chidambaram-Omar combination,while expressing their inability to take action against seditious speeches,decided to prevent the exercise of nationalistic free speech when it came to carrying the national flag in Jammu & Kashmir.
Many have asked the question as to why anyone should have an objection to the carrying of the national flag. The answer indeed is intriguing as I endeavour to search for it.
Along with two of my colleagues,I landed in Jammu on the afternoon of January 24. Some policemen entered our aircraft and handed me an order,ostensibly under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,which read as follows: Whereas it has been reported that Shri Arun Jaitley is also landing in the district and there are inputs that the persons of these profile individuals (sic) is proning (sic) to create law and order problem besides heightening tension in the district. Moreover,the security forces are extremely tied up with the law and order duties and maintaining very high level of vigil and surveillance that any further assignment connecting (sic) with the law and order problem are (sic) providing necessary security as per SOP to the high profile individuals under security cover,may not be possible.
We were,therefore asked to leave the district and the state of Jammu & Kashmir. I had no doubt on the receipt of this order that it was illegal. The intention of the state government was suspect as its grammar. How could the power to issue a prohibitory order be used to extern us from the state?
We were there only to address a public meeting in Jammu and return. We were illegally detained at the airport for over six hours. We were not allowed to move out of the airport. After this illegal detention,we were misinformed that we were being taken to prison,and were abducted. We were put in separate vehicles and driven for the next two-and-a-half hours and dropped outside J&K,at Madhopur in Punjab,at midnight. Fortunately,our political colleagues in Punjab became aware of our presence at the border and arrived in large numbers to put us in their vehicles and find suitable lodging for us.
The next afternoon,we re-entered the state carrying the national flag,along with Anurag Thakur,the president of our youth wing,and were arrested for violation of the same prohibitory orders.
Several important political and constitutional questions arise with regard to the steps taken by the state government. Jammu Division is not a disturbed area. Why is the holding of political rallies prohibited there? Can CrPCs Section 144 be used for externing the two leaders of the parliamentary opposition from the state? Where is the source of power to physically put the two of us,along with our colleagues,in a vehicle,and without a legal order in writing throw us outside the state? Can the power under Section 144 of CrPC to issue prohibitory orders be utilised to arrest people for holding the national flag in Srinagar even a solitary political worker? Where is the source of power for committing all these illegalities? In Srinagar all those who reached the Lal Chowk and the Dal Gate holding the national flag were arrested and physically assaulted. Some have even suffered fractures. I have personally brought this to the notice of the CM and DGP of the state.
The BJP Yuva Morchas exercise has energised the BJP cadres. It has exercised public opinion. The political consequences of the debate apart,what was the message that the Chidambaram-Omar duo was trying to convey? They hijacked trains to prevent political workers from reaching the Jammu border. They shabbily treated the leaders of opposition with the utmost discourtesy,detaining them illegally and deporting them without authority in law. They reduced the republic to a relic: on Republic Day,holding a national flag became a ground for arrest and torture. Why did they do so?
Omar Abdullah wanted to convey a message to the Valley: I stopped the BJP rally. He wanted to increase his acceptability there even if it created an adverse opinion against him in the rest of the country. The home minister apparently agreed without realising the long-term consequences. He joined Omar in psychologically surrendering to the separatists psyche. They converted the flying of the national flag into a prohibited activity. The fact that many BJP workers reached Lal Chowk and flew the national flag even at the cost of their personal safety was an assault on the arrogance of the state administration.
The Ekta Yatra is over. But the political debate continues. How do you politically and emotionally integrate the state of J&K with the rest of India? Is it by weakening the political and constitutional relationship,something that started in 1950,or by strengthening it? Most of India knows the answer. I only hope that the Chidambaram-Omar duo abandons living in denial.
The writer is the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha
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