Top BJP leaders detained in Jammu & Kashmir

Jammu became a virtual flashpoint on Monday as top BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar were detained at the airport and taken to an undisclosed location.

Sources said they might be shifted to Madhopur in neighbouring Punjab.

Sushma tweeted: “Arrested...cars separate...don’t know where to?”
The leaders, who wanted to enter the winter capital to join the party’s ekta yatra aimed at hoisting the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Republic Day, were first stopped from deplaning.

Later, the three, who arrived in a chartered plane in the afternoon, were denied entry to the airport lounge. They were told prohibitory orders under CrPC section 144 were in force and were urged to board back the plane and return.

The leaders, however, were adamant and staged an impromptu sit-in on the tarmac.

“It appears they have locked the terminal gates. Not being allowed to go out. They have served us an order under S144 CrPC. They want us to fly back. Initially, they were not allowing us to deplane. Now we have come out. We are sitting at the tarmac. You can’t do this under section 144. We are being deported because we want to unfurl the national flag,” Swaraj said in a minute-by-minute commentary on Twitter.

After chief minister Omar Abdullah apprised him of the escalating situation, P Chidambaram rang up Jaitley and tried to persuade the agitating BJP leaders, but to no avail. They ignored the Union home minister’s call to return to New Delhi.

As the stand-off continued inside the airport, high drama unfolded outside. As news of the BJP leaders’ blocking reached the city, hundreds of party workers led by state president SS Manhas and leaders Chaman Lal Gupta and Ashok Khajuria converged outside the airport and began shouting slogans.

The situation was equally tense, if not more, in Kashmir, with police intensifying crackdown on JKLF members and raiding residences of chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik and other leaders planning a parallel rally to foil the BJP plan.

Congress accused BJP of indulging in political opportunism. “Srinagar is as much a part of India as any other place. What is that they want to achieve by hoisting the flag?” spokesman Manish Tewari said, adding, “BJP leaders should ensure the tricolour flies at their homes and  then take up such exercises.”

BJP countered, saying Congress was trying to provoke “a confrontation and diversion” by stopping its leaders from entering Jammu. Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said Congress wanted to deflect attention from the series of scams being highlighted by the opposition.