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JKNPP's Delhi-Srinagar 'Tiranga Rally' to support NIT students

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Press Trust of India Jammu
Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) will hold a five-day Tiranga Rally from New Delhi to Srinagar next month to spread the message of national integrity and support "nationalist" students of NIT Srinagar.

JKNPP will hold the rally from Lal Quila in Delhi to Lal Chowk in Srinagar between May 4 and May 8 to spread the message of national integrity, unity and harmony, JKNPP chief and former minister Harsh Dev Singh told reporters here today.

Flanked by Balwant Singh Mankotia, JKNPP state president and former minister Yashpal Kundal,Singh expressed anguish over the "silence" of the BJP over the NIT row.
 

Singh deplored the way the "nationalist students were maltreated for upholding the honour of the Tricolor and confronting the anti-national elements".

They said the rally would oppose and expose "deceitful and sacrilegious character" of the BJP and mobilize public opinion in support of "nationalist" students of NIT.

He said the NIT incident in which students were "abused, baton-charged and manhandled" for raising pro-India slogans and waving Tricolour to counter those rejoicing India's defeat in the World T20 match was "excruciatingly distressful".

He said the "obnoxious" situation which led to the "exodus of nationalist students" from the Valley further aggravated when the enquiry officer appointed by the state government reportedly indicted these students for allegedly vitiating the academic atmosphere in his probe report.

Singh also questioned the "silence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union HRD Minister over the students' demand to have either of them to hoist the National Flag on the campus to send the message that Kashmir is an integral part of India.

He further criticised BJP ministers for their acquiescence to cricket tournaments in Kashmir to "glorify terrorists" as reported in a section of media today.

Lambasting the BJP's slogan of 'Zero Tolerance' and "incongruous" stand on nationalism, Balwant Singh Mankotia and Yashpal Kundal accused it of "chauvinistic posturing" during the JNU row by detaining student leaders and said "its persistent chest-thumping against anti-national elements fell flat on Kashmir turf".

The JKNPP leaders sought the invocation of sedition charges against "offenders waging war against the country" and cautioned the state government against the "harassment" of "nationalist" NIT students.

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First Published: Apr 30 2016 | 4:42 PM IST

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