ABVP, other social activists try to hoist Tricolour at PDP office

Police personnel restricting a group of youth from hoisting Tricolour at PDP office in Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. -Excelsior/Rakesh
Police personnel restricting a group of youth from hoisting Tricolour at PDP office in Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. -Excelsior/Rakesh

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 25: Protesting against PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s remarks on the National Flag, a group of social activists as well as another group of ABVP activists today held protests separately outside PDP office at Gandhi Nagar in Jammu and made a vain attempt to hoist the Tricolour atop the building of party office.
Amid chants of “Tirange ka apmaan nahi sahenge (will not tolerate the insult of Tricolour)” and anti-PDP sloganeering, the youths led by activist Amandeep Singh came on two-wheelers this morning and attempted to hoist the National Flag on the PDP headquarters.
However, they were stopped by the police personnel deployed at the PDP office. The protesters later dispersed peacefully. “We have no affiliation with any right-wing party. We are nationalist by core and will not tolerate any insult to the Tricolour, which is our pride and honour,” Amandeep Singh told reporters.
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Singh had on Saturday hoisted the National Flag on the boundary wall near the main entrance of the PDP office and had a heated argument with two senior party leaders, including former legislator Firdous Ahmad Tak. Before leaving, Singh had said that he would return with more youths on Sunday to unfurl the national flag at the building.
The incident came days after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president said she is not interested in contesting elections or holding the Tricolour till the constitutional changes enforced on August 5 last year are rolled back. Mufti had said she would hold the national flag only when the separate flag of the erstwhile state is restored.
Later, in the afternoon, score of activists of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) led by Pardeep Jamwal (UT joint secretary) and Akshay Sharma (secretary, Jammu Mahanagar) also staged a protest in front of PDP Office.
Raising anti-PDP slogans, the protesting activists said that they will not tolerate the insult of their National Flag at any cost. The protesting ABVP activists tried to hoist the Tricolour atop the PDP office building but did not succeed due to deployment of strong police force despite clashing with the police. However, before leaving the spot, they hoisted the National Flag outside PDP office.
In the clash, three activists of ABVP reportedly got minor injuries. Some activists were also taken into custody by the police but were released later.
In a statement, Akshay Sharma said that if some one is not interested in contesting elections, it does not matter but no body has the right and freedom to insult our National Flag and if anybody does so, the ABVP will not sit silently.