Yes for Tiranga

Very rarely has a 26th January been watched with the such anticipation. And why not? This year the Republic Day is watched not for the show, the pomp and the dazzle in New Delhi but the action in far -off Lal Chowk in Srinagar. Isn't it a tragedy that the day when India celebrates it constitution, some youth will be facing police and their water canons, tear gas shells, lathis, maybe bululets too, just to exercise a right which Republic of India gives them. And the right is to hoist Indian Tricolour at any place on Indian soil as long as it is clean and respectable towards the flag.

Media has ,as always, gone ahead with its own biases in lambasting BJP and its youth wing for the Ekta Yatra. But no body so far has questioned why has BJYM taken out the yatra. The answers are not too far to find out. In last few years, Kashmir valley has been held hostage by an unholy nexus of seperatists, media and social activists. They at no point of time have lost an opportunity to spit at India or anything remotely Indian. Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Yasin Malik, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Arundhati Roy, Gautam Navlakha, Barkha Dutt, Nidhi Razdan are some of the people who seem to be running a campaign against Indian interests in the state. And in each occasions, the government of India has been surrendering. Be it during Amarnath Land Row or the action against stone pelters or troop reduction or the removal of AFSPA. The continous kid glove treatment to the seperatists in valley has not gone well with the other population of the state. That's why you saw unprecedented crowd at the Kashmir conclaves organised by BJP. More and more nationalists forces are slowly realising the dangers of seperatism. They have been wanting to enter the mainstream but have been held back by a handful of seperatists. This yatra is to connect the rest of India with this nationalist part of the state.

And this is precisely why the J n K government as well as Central Government and the seperatists are afraid of this yatra. Imagine a CM who sat silent when Srinagar burnt or was under stone fire, now spewing fire and wanting to stop the yatra. The yatra is to tell him , not to take the nationalist side too lightly.

Looking at the slew of steps taken in recent past, one thing is obvious, you will face no fire if you are a seperatist and want to spread anti-India venom. This and recent statements by Pak diplomats on how Pakistan was close to a deal with the UPA government, one can imagine Government at both central n state giving major concessions to the seperatists. This yatra is also to warn the government from any such surrender. This is precisely the reason, first voice against the yatra came from seperatists leader Yasin Malk. After he protested, NC, PDP and Congress joined the fracas to further their bogus secularism.

In current scenario, it would be prudent if the governments do not indulge in competetive seperatism and allow the youth to hoist national flag at Lal Chowk, the same place where seperatists furled Pakistani flag during recent strife.