NC, BJP Trade Charges Over Hazratbal Emblem Row

Srinagar- The political storm over the installation of the national emblem at Hazratbal shrine escalated on Saturday, with both National Conference (NC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders holding separate press conferences, accusing each other of politicising the issue and attempting to provoke communal sentiments.

At the NC headquarters, party's Chief Spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq, flanked by over a dozen legislators, said the incident had deeply hurt religious sentiments.“The protests at the shrine were spontaneous. Violence should not have happened, but the Board's move has hurt sensitivities. The emblem is not used at any religious place, and it was wrong to impose it at Hazratbal,” Sadiq said. He further accused Waqf Board Chairperson Darakhshan Andrabi of“threatening people with FIRs and PSA” and demanded police action against her.

Former parliamentarian and National Conference stalwart Hasnain Masoodi declared that the party would formally petition the Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for the constitution of a House Committee. According to Masoodi, the panel's mandate should encompass a thorough inquiry into what he described as“embezzlement and financial improprieties” perpetrated by the Board.

Legislator Salman Sagar adopted an even sharper tone, insisting on the immediate ouster of Andrabi. He termed the episode a“calculated provocation timed with the impending elections in Bihar,” cautioning that the party would resist any attempt to reduce religious institutions to mere instruments of electoral politics.“We urge Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to relieve Ms. Andrabi of her position. Such appointments must be the prerogative of an elected government and its cabinet, not the discretion of the administration,” Sagar asserted.

In a vehement rebuttal to the National Conference's accusations, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders characterized the demonstrations and acts of vandalism at Hazratbal as nothing short of a“premeditated conspiracy.” Addressing a separate press briefing, BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur denounced the desecration of the stone plaque at the shrine, branding it as“an assault on the very essence of the nation's identity.”

“The Ashoka insignia epitomizes the sovereignty of India, its imprint visible on every symbol of statehood-from passports to Aadhaar cards. We shall never permit its defacement. If genuine grievances existed, the Waqf Board was the proper forum for redressal, not this barbaric vandalism. Their conduct mirrored the fanaticism of Osama bin Laden's cohorts. This was not a spontaneous outburst, but a meticulously orchestrated stratagem,” Thakur asserted.

Waqf Board Chairperson Darakhshan Andrabi likewise issued a blistering rejoinder, categorizing the episode as“a terrorist enterprise” calculated to profane both the national emblem and the sanctity of the shrine.

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