BJP leaders barred from Kashmir

BJP says it will go ahead with the flag-hoisting ceremony

Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir have stopped senior leaders of main opposition BJP from entering the state for a flag-raising ceremony.

Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar were stopped at Jammu airport and later sent by road to the neighbouring state of Punjab.

BJP plans to hoist the flag in Srinagar city on Republic Day on Wednesday.

The plan has triggered off fears of violence in the restive Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley.

Indian PM Manmohan Singh has appealed to the BJP to call off the rally, saying that the Republic Day should not be used to promote “divisive agendas”.

And the chief minister of Indian-administered Kashmir Omar Abdullah said he would stop the flag hoisting ceremony. He said it would provoke the separatists.

Top BJP leaders, Ms Swaraj, Mr Jaitley and Mr Kumar, flew into Jammu on Monday afternoon on a chartered plane.

The three were detained at the airport for several hours after which they were sent to Punjab.

The move has angered BJP leaders.

Senior party leader LK Advani spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to register his “protest” at the state government’s decision to not let party leaders enter Jammu.

BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad called it “a repressive action by the government of India”.

“We condemn it. We will go ahead with the yatra [march],” he said.

Meanwhile, former BJP president Rajnath Singh began a protest hunger strike on Monday night at the Gandhi memorial in Delhi.

On Sunday night, a train carrying 2,000 BJP workers on their way to Kashmir to participate in the flag-raising ceremony were sent back midway.

The protesters boarded a train in Karnataka state, but some distance into their journey, railway staff at a Maharashtra station attached the engine to the rear of the train and sent it back to Karnataka.

Most of the party workers were fast asleep when railway staff at the station detached the train’s engine from the first coach and attached it to the last coach, reports said.

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