BJP's Tiranga Yatra halted as leaders held in Jammu

Police keep watch over BJP's office; seal entry points into Lal Chowk to prevent party workers from going there

Police keep watch over BJP's office; seal entry points into Lal Chowk to prevent party workers from going there

Amid high drama, senior BJP leaders and more than a thousand party cadres were detained at Lakhanpur border last evening as they tried to enter Jammu and Kashmir to carry out the last leg of the Tiranga Yatra.
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In Jammu too, the state police arrested BJP workers and stopped them from holding a rally.


Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha President
Anurag Thakur, were detained with thousand other party workers yesterday in Jammu

Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) president Anurag Thakur, who were leading the cadres, were detained as soon as they crossed the Ravi bridge on the border of Punjab and J&K. The duo were taken to Kathua district police lines.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitely, party MP Anant Kumar and former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Shanta Kumar were taken to the Hallmark hotel in Lakhanpur.

Senior BJP leader from Jammu Chaman Lal Gupta and other party MLAs who had attempted to fly to Srinagar were detained in Jammu.

The BJYM national vice president, Pawan Kumar, who had reached Srinagar along with three MLAs, was stopped at the airport itself.

In Srinagar, the police kept a watch over the Rajbagh office of the BJP and sealed the entry points into Lal Chowk to prevent the party workers from going there.
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Traffic on Jammu-Srinagar national highway was stopped and police even sealed the Rajouri-Srinagar Mughal Road to prevent the BJP workers from going to the city.

Malik gives a slip
Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Yasin Malik managed to give the police the slip and has gone into hiding while Hurriyat hardliner, SAS Geelani and other separatist leaders have been put under house arrest by the police. Malik had called for a march to protest against BJP's Ekta Yatra.

Undeclared Emergency

Reiterating its stand that it will hoist the flag at Lal Chowk on the Republic Day, the BJP yesterday termed the incident of stopping Ekta Yatra on Jammu border "undeclared emergency" and said that government has surrendered to the separatist forces. Party president Nitin Gadkari will join former BJP chief Rajnath Singh in his hunger strike at Rajghat as soon as he returns to Delhi.

A BJP spokesperson termed the incident as historic blunder and warned the Congress of serious consequences. "The nation will never forgive the Congress Party for this," he said.

"The same Army and paramilitary forces that should hoist the flag with pride and respect are being used to stop its hoisting," he said.

But Home Minister P Chidambaram said in Delhi, "The BJP should respect the decision of state government as this could affect the law and order situation in the state."

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